The long-term psychological effects of parental alienation during childhood

Abstract

Parental alienation, thought to be a form of emotional abuse stemming from parental conflict, remains to be a relatively poorly understood construct. Specifically, the long-term psychological impact of experiencing parental alienation have to date not been investigated in great detail. The present study aimed to examine the long-term effects of experiencing parental alienation during childhood. Here we investigated the role of parental alienation experience in measures of self-sufficiency, depression, attachment, self-esteem and anxiety. Findings indicate a strong association between parental alienation and anxiety, offering support to previous descriptions of parental alienation as a syndrome and providing an important basis on which to build future investigations into the lasting effects of this understudied childhood experience.