RESEARCH_FILE
Parental Differential Treatment (PDT)
Parental differential treatment is the research term for parents relating differently to different children — in warmth, conflict, support, or expectations — regardless of whether the parent acknowledges doing so. Researchers treat it as a family-level pattern to be measured across the whole life course, not a one-time childhood event.
SEE THE PRACTICE
Turn a thought this research explains into one clear move.
THE THOUGHT
“Grandma treats my kids differently”
YOUR RECORDED RESPONSE
“My kids don’t need every grandparent to be equal. They need me to notice what is actually happening.”
ONE PRIVATE MOVE
Privately write down three concrete things you observed on the last visit — only visible facts, no conclusions — then stop after the third line and put the note away for later.
How it sounds in your head
A mother who calls one adult child daily for advice, expects to be cared for by that same child in old age, but argues most often with another child, is showing three overlapping forms of PDT — closeness, expected caregiving, and conflict — that don't have to point to the same 'favorite'.