An introduction to parental alienation syndrome

Parental alienation syndrome (PAS) can occur during a tumultuous divorce between embattled parents involved in a bitter child custody dispute. During parental warfare, a child is used as a weapon by one parent (alienating parent) against the other parent (alienated/targeted parent). The targeted parent-child relationship once encased with unconditional love is transformed by an unrelenting campaign of denigration, criticism, and hatred. Since nursing literature on PAS is almost nonexistent, the purpose of this article is to increase nursing awareness and provide basic information. Awareness of PAS symptoms and interpersonal dynamics is important to prompt nurses in recommending treatment for families. Nurses should collaboratively join other professionals in their quest to provide the best treatment possible.     

A Stepwise Approach to Evaluating Children for Parental Alienation Syndrome

ABSTRACT

Parental alienation syndrome continues to be a term that is widely used in child custody conflicts but which is also controversial. Previous authors have defined the term but have not established a standardized assessment process for PAS. The author emphasizes the importance of focusing on the child's behavior, then proceeding through a three step process: (1) determining if the refusal of contact with the parent is extreme and the alienation is severe, (2) determining if there is no basis for the extreme fear and anger toward the parent, (3) then determining if the child meets at least 10 of the 15 criteria that are proposed. The assessment process for each of the 15 criteria is outlined in detail with examples of each. Novel strategies and interview questions are suggested. The author includes a supplemental section for interview techniques that might be used with the alienating parent.     

Family Members' Narratives of Divorce and Interparental Conflict: Implications for Parental Alienation

This study focused on the internal dynamics of family members who experience divorce and interparental conflict. Interparental conflict and triangulating children increase the likelihood of alienating children from a parent. Narrative interviews with members of three families were used to explore meaning structures. Results showed how parents and children thought, felt, and created meaning about their experiences; how family members responded to conflict and behaviors associated with parental alienation; and how they viewed family relationships. Metalevel findings suggested each family member held dichotomous views and used cognitive and behavioral control response strategies. Thus, parental alienation stems from a relational dynamic and needs to be addressed from a family systems perspective.     

Judgments regarding parental alienation when parental hostility or child sexual abuse is alleged

Abstract

Allegations of Parental Alienation (PA), the systematic disparaging of one parent by the other parent aimed at alienating their child’s affections, as a basis for child custody decisions are highly controversial. Claims of parental hostility or allegations of child sexual abuse in custody cases may trigger concerns about PA. Family court professionals (N?=?280) rated young children’s accuracy of report (e.g., suggestibility, honesty) in general and also read three custody scenarios varying as to whether or not they included allegations of parental hostility or child sexual abuse, or no such allegations. For each scenario, the alleged alienating parent’s gender was experimentally varied between subjects. Participants rated the likelihood that each case involved PA. For the scenario that included allegations of child sexual abuse, professionals who viewed young children as more inaccurate reporters or who read about the mother (rather than a father) as the alleged alienator were more likely to rate the scenario as involving PA. For the scenario that described parental hostility but no child sexual abuse allegations, professionals who were older or female were more likely to judge the scenario as involving parental alienation when a mother (rather than a father) was the alleged alienator, whereas there were no significant predictors of responses to the no-allegation scenarios. Findings are discussed in relation to the difficult task of evaluating custody cases for PA when parental hostility or child sexual abuse is alleged.     

Is the Concept of Parental Alienation a Meaningful One?

Many members of the judiciary do not yet accept the concept of parental alienation (PA) or parental alienation syndrome (PAS). It has not as yet been included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders–5 or International Classification of Diseases–11. This article discusses the concept of PA as meaningful and resulting from serious conflict before, during, and after separation of parents. It results in a child failing to have good contact with the now absent parent, despite the fact that the child previously had a good relationship with that parent. The concept of PA is defined and is differentiated into types. The behavior of the alienator and the alienated parent is described. The incidence, symptoms, and diagnosis of PA is also delineated, as are the long-term effects and treatment of PA.     

Parental denigration reports across parent–child dyads: Divorced parents underreport denigration behaviors compared to children

Abstract

Parental denigration is a phenomenon characterized by disparaging comments made by one parent about the other parent, in front of their children. It is an emerging area of research with implications that appear to follow from a conflict perspective, rather than a parental alienation perspective. In three prior studies of young adults, sibling pairs, and parents, denigration was found to be (a) measured reliably and validly, (b) reciprocally occurring, (c) related to children feeling more distant from both parents, particularly the more frequent denigrator, (d) associated with various measures of maladjustment, and (e) underreported by divorced parents. These results held across marital status and parent gender, in group and individual analyses, across sibling reports, and across studies. In the current study, parent reports of co-parent denigration behaviors were similar to child reports in both married and divorced families. However, divorced parents consistently underreported their own denigration behaviors compared to child reports, and their reports of parent–child closeness and attachment was not associated with child reports. This is consistent with findings from previous work that divorced parents may be less aware of their harmful behaviors and view co-parents in a globally more negative light than children perceive them.     

Prevalence of parental alienation drawn from a representative poll

The current work is the first known representative poll of adults (N = 610) aimed at determining the prevalence of parental alienation. Parental alienation describes actions that a parent takes to intentionally, or unintentionally, distance a child (or children) from the other parent (Darnell, 1998). Results revealed that 13.4% of parents (or 9.03% of the entire sample) have been alienated from one or more of their children. Our findings suggest that tens of millions of adults and their children may be impacted by parental alienation, which is much higher than previous estimates. Furthermore, findings show evidence of parental alienation across all socio-economic and demographic indicators. However, when compared to Census estimates of different demographic groups in the U.S. population, targeted parents were over-represented among Blacks/African Americans and Native Americans, and those with only a high school diploma level education. The sheer magnitude of parental alienation uncovered in this study indicates the need for more attention to be paid to this important and pervasive problem.     

The Life Paths and Lived Experiences of Adults Who Have Experienced Parental Alienation: A Retrospective Study

This qualitative study concerns the life paths and lived experiences of 6 adults who have been alienated from a parent in the past. The results suggest several hypotheses concerning the factors that might place children at risk of being alienated from a parent. The presence of postseparation conflict and, in some cases, domestic violence, as well as the triangulation of the child appear to be elements that favor the emergence of parental alienation. Moreover, this study supports a multifactorial explanation of parental alienation. In the scope of lived experience, respondents associated alienation with difficulties at school, internal and external behavior problems, and a search for identity after reaching adulthood. Finally, overcoming the state of alienation involves issues surrounding the establishment of boundaries with the alienating parent and the rebuilding of a relationship with the alienated parent.     

Outcomes of Parent–Child Interaction Therapy in an urban community clinic: A comparison of treatment completers and dropouts

This study examined outcomes of Parent–Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) for 52 clinically referred children with oppositional behavior and their parents treated in an urban, community mental health clinic serving demographically (i.e., income level, ethnicity) diverse families. Standardized observations of parent–child interactions and parent reported measures of child behavior were collected at pre- and post-treatment. We addressed two primary research questions: (1) What are pre-treatment predictors of treatment completion? (2) What are treatment outcomes both for families who successfully completed PCIT and for treatment dropouts? Multiple logistic regression results showed a significantly greater likelihood of treatment completion related to higher parent education, male child gender, and two parent households. Among families who completed treatment, pre–post data demonstrated significant parent change in observed skill use and improvement in parent reported disruptive behaviors with medium to large effect sizes. Findings also documented early treatment benefits for families who completed the first phase of PCIT but dropped out in the final phase prior to meeting full graduation criteria. We discuss the findings and implications for community-based applications of PCIT in the context of community mental health's mission to provide effective treatment and maximize community access to services.     

Parental Alienation: A Measurement Tool

The Rowlands Parental Alienation Scale (RPAS) was administered to 592 parents along with measures of convergent and discriminant validity. The scale was designed to capture the eight domains of parental alienating behavior posited in the literature. Factor analysis extracted only six factors, one of which was not included in the original eight: (a) campaign of denigration towards the alienated parent, (b) the independent thinker phenomenon, (c) reflexive support, (d) presence of borrowed scenarios, (e) spread of animosity to extended family, and (f) lack of positive affect towards the alienated parent. Parents who reported either that a court evaluation or court findings had confirmed the presence of parental alienation scored significantly higher on all six RPAS factors as well as on the overall RPAS score.     

Postdivorce Coparenting and Children’s Well-Being in Hong Kong

This article reports a survey study on postdivorce coparenting and its relationships with children’s well-being in Hong Kong. Based on data from 142 resident parents and 84 children, the results revealed that interparental conflict and triangulation of children within parental conflict adversely affected children’s well-being, whereas interparental support fostered children’s well-being. Parental communication and interparental support coexisted simultaneously with parent conflicts. These conflicting effects make postdivorce coparenting a mixed blessing for children. Fortunately, residential parent–child intimacy and quality parenting by both parents protected children’s well-being from the effects of negative relational dynamics. Promoting postdivorce coparenting should always accompany effective interventions in conflict resolution, the renegotiation of growth-enhancing boundaries among family members, the support of parental functioning and individual recovery of both parents, and the facilitation of noncompetitive parental involvement of nonresident parents.     

Effects of a Mid- to Late-Life Parental Divorce on Adult Children

There is a dearth of research on whether and how a later-life parental divorce influences the lives of adult children. Through qualitative interviews with 40 adult children of divorce (ACD)—those whose parents divorced after they were 18 years of age—ACD were asked to discuss their experience of the parental divorce. There were commonalities experienced by the ACD. However, only half of the ACD were initially affected negatively by their parents’ divorce, whereas the other half did not have a tough time initially. Factors including being “put in the middle,” along with strained parent–child relationships, were found to have the potential to affect one’s experience.     

The Attitude of the Shari'a Courts to Parental Alienation Syndrome: Understanding the Dynamics of the Syndrome in Arab Society

In addition to the many factors leading to parental alienation syndrome (PAS), including the narcissistic injury felt by the abandoned parent, or the custodial parent's personal difficulty, there are further factors unique to Arab society—including strong influence by the extended family on the child. Although all the components of PAS exist and are well known to the shari'a courts, no parallel concept is found in the Arab legal lexicon. This article presents 1 case of a shari'a court hearing that illustrates this phenomenon. The conclusions indicate that the shari'a court considers this a serious phenomenon and sees coping with the situation as an essential and preliminary condition to the custody hearing.     

A Critical Analysis of Parental Alienation Syndrome and Its Admissibility in the Family Court

Abstract

Over the past three decades, parental alienation syndrome (PAS) has been proposed to explain behaviors by a child who refuses to spend time with a parent and actually denigrates that parent within the context of a child custody dispute. Although some mental health professionals and child custody evaluators, attorneys, and judges have been quick to accept and admit PAS as evidence in these disputes, there has been no consistent empirical or clinical evidence that PAS exists or that the alienator's behavior is the actual cause of the alienated child's behavior towards the target parent. This article attempts to help those working with custody issues understand how the PAS construct fails to meet scientific standards and should not be admissible in courts.     

International Social Work Research: Issues and Prospects

Abstract

This article reports on qualitative research that examined the experiences of 25 Australian participants aged over 60 years who were estranged from at least one adult child. When participants were asked about their perceptions of the cause of the estrangement they described events prior to and at the time of the estrangement, possibly perceived as a form of parental rejection or relational devaluation by the estranged children. Findings suggested a complex interplay of long-term factors that appeared to contribute to an eroded relationship between parents and children, including divorce, third-party alienation, and multiple family stressors. Ultimately participants said that the adult children responded by: (1) choosing what they perceived to be a less rejecting or less dangerous relationship over a relationship with their parent; (2) choosing to stop contact or reduce emotional interactions with their parent; or (3) using estrangement to punish their parent for the perceived rejection.     

Feeling Caught Between Parents: Adult Children's Relations With Parents and Subjective Well‐Being

Research on divorce has found that adolescents’ feelings of being caught between parents are linked to internalizing problems and weak parent‐child relationships. The present study estimates the effects of marital discord, as well as divorce, on young adult offspring's feelings of being caught in the middle (N =632). Children with parents in high‐conflict marriages were more likely than other children to feel caught between parents. These feelings were associated with lower subjective well‐being and poorer quality parent‐child relationships. Offspring with divorced parents were no more likely than offspring with continuously married parents in low‐conflict relationships to report feeling caught. Feelings of being caught appeared to fade in the decade following parental divorce. These results suggest that, unlike children of divorce, children with parents in conflicted marriages (who do not divorce) may be unable to escape from their parents’ marital problems—even into adulthood.     

Visitations and Transfers After Divorce

Recent research reveals that divorce negatively impacts children's welfare as a consequence of the reduction in monetary and time contributions of the non-custodial parent. After divorce, the variables that link the absent parent to the child are visitations, child support transfers, and direct expenditures the non-custodial parent makes on the child. In our framework parents constitute a bilateral exchange economy where the mother is endowed with control over visitations and the father has control over financial resources. We use data from National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (5th follow up) to estimate the parameters of the model. We then use the estimates to simulate the effects of alternative endowment levels (such as joint custody) on the proportion of time spent with the non-custodial parent and the ex post parental income distribution. The results indicate that an endowment of equal time for both parents, reducing time under the mother's control implies a reduction in the child support transfers from the father, and, therefore, a loss in the mother's consumption levels. However, a more equally shared time with the children also increases the father's direct expenditures on the child, with the effect of allowing the mother to spend less on child goods and partially compensate her consumption loss.     

When digital natives instruct digital immigrants: active guidance of parental media use by children and conflict in the family

Based on the premise that children are active agents who influence their parents’ media use, this study investigated child–parent digital media guidance. Children often introduce new media into the family and influence parents’ media adoption and use. This study also investigated whether this child–parent digital media guidance is associated with media conflicts in the family. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 187 parent–child dyads in Flanders, Belgium. Paired samples t-tests and multiple linear regression analyses were conducted. The results showed that both children and parents reported that children guide their parents how to use digital media, especially for newer media forms such as smartphones, tablets, and apps. Families where there was more child–parent digital media guidance reported more conflicts about media. These relationships were comparable in the parent and child reports.     

Exploring the Lived Experiences of Psychologists Working With Parental Alienation Syndrome

Divorce is a common modern phenomenon. Changes in legislation to support the best-interest-of-the-child principle are argued to have escalated conflict between parents during custody disputes. Parental alienation syndrome (PAS) is a controversial concept in high-conflict divorces and has received both praise and criticism over the past 2 decades. This study explores the experiences of psychologists working with PAS in private practice. A snowball sample (n = 8) of psychologists willingly participated in the study. Data collection took place by means of in-depth interviews. Transcribed data were analyzed by means of thematic analysis, and themes and subthemes were derived. The 2 main categories that emerged were the participants’ general understanding of PAS and the operational and practical experiences working with PAS. The participants working with PAS referred to it as complex and destructive. The involvement of lawyers, parental pathology, and legislation all contribute to the complex task of intervening in cases where PAS is present. The impact of working with such a complex phenomenon has emotional effects like self-doubt, disappointment, and anxiety. In some cases, this resulted in an active decision on the part of the psychologist not to work with forensic cases any more.     

Timing of Parental Separation and Attachment to Parents in Adolescence: Results of a Prospective Study from Birth to Age 16

Using prospective longitudinal data from the Christchurch Health and Development Study (CHDS), this paper examines the effects of parental separation on the quality of adolescents' attachment to parents and their perceptions of parental care and overprotection during childhood. Exposure to parental separation was significantly associated with lower attachment to parents in adolescence and more negative perceptions of maternal and paternal care and protection during childhood. When examined in relation to the developmental timing of first separation, a linear relationship between the age at first separation and later parental attachment and perceived parent–child relations was found. The younger the age of the child at the time of separation, the lower their subsequent parental attachment and the more likely they were to perceive both their mother and father as less caring and more overprotective. No gender differences were found in children's responses to parental separation. These findings persisted after control for the confounding effects of family social background, marital conflict, parenting, child behavior, and remarriage. Results supported the importance of the early childhood years for the development of a secure and enduring attachment relationship between children and their parents.