5053 Parental Alienation Research Proposal

Running head: PARENTAL ALIENATION 1

Parental Alienation

Lesha M. Delaney

LeTourneau University

PARENTAL ALIENATION 2

Abstract

This proposal explores the role of parents in the lives of children and their behaviors and

treatment of children while they go through divorce/separation in relation to parental alienation.

One hundred adult children, fifty female and fifty male, will undergo three different assessments

of closed end and open end questions, which will be compared and assessed based on the

answers given. Once the scores of the questionnaires are computed test subjects will partake in

in-person interviews. The subject population will vary across three different states. The

prediction is such that the subjects who have experienced parental separation/divorce as well as

parental alienation will present higher rates of mental/personality disorders than adult children

who have not also experienced parental alienation.

Keywords: parental alienation, non-parental alienation, mental/personality disorders


Parental Alienation

Although Parental alienation is not currently in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-5,

the concept is not a new one. The implications of parental alienation on society are not only

rearing their ugly face in the lives of children/adolescents but continue to influence the direction

and behavioral patterns of their adult lives. The effect from parental alienation in children and

the clinical diagnoses thereof is in the proposal process for the next DSM update. Recent research

suggests that children who suffer from the abuses of parental alienation time and again suffer

mental disorders in alarming rates, which may not present until adulthood. Some of the

symptoms related to the issues experienced as adults include depression, high divorce rates, trust

issues, promiscuity and estrangement of connection from own offspring, to name a few (Baker,

2005; Baker, 2006).

Research trends advocate that children who are reared in two-parent adult homes fare

better in academic settings, are less depressed, are more likely to live in suburban areas, and are

more likely to become college graduates among other beneficial factors (Fields & Casper, 2001;

Sun, 2001). Research trends also provide that protective barriers from mental illnesses such as

ADHD, behavioral problems and peer relation matters exist among those living in a two-parent

home. Sun further suggests that changes in issues such as cognitive, behavioral and

psychological health can be predicted based on circumstances related to parent-patterns such as

divorce, parental separation, etc. Both males and females alike are commonly affected by

familial disruptions in childhood as well as in adulthood (Sun, 2001). Family structure, which

does not include both parents in the home, is also a notable indicator of criminal behavior

(Ikäheimo, Laukkanen, Hakko, & Ra¨sa¨nen, 2013).


Hypothesis

Children who undergo parental alienation are at higher risk of mental and or personality

disorders than those who do not undergo parental alienation.

Literature Review

The model, which most accurately exhibits the behavior that children will display, comes

from the standard family environment model (Amato & Cheatle, 2008, p 1151). The model

expresses the idea that the behaviors children see in their parents are the very same behaviors

they will most often model. The model further assesses that children whose parents have

divorced are at greater risks for suffering from a broad spectrum of mental disorders when

compared to those whose parents have not divorced. Repeated exposure to such dysfunction may

worsen the chances of the children for normalcy. Children in such atmospheres learn

maladaptive ways of coping with strife and discord. They then live on to repeat such

dysfunctional patterns as adults (Amato & Cheatle, 2008).

Baker (2006) conducted a study of adult participants who suffered as victims from

parental alienation. In the five interviews conducted, some of the questions asked on the self-

questionnaires included questions pertaining to the thinking patterns, which led to their

reckoning of the tactics exhibited by the PA. This study in particular evidences that parental

alienation does exist and that many children become victims at the hands of their own parent.

Finally, the study attempted to recognize similar design patterns of behavior in the PA’s (Baker,

2006).

Typically, a parental alienator has a narcissistic personality style, in which they do not

reason with their heart nor do they desire to show they have a heart as this is considered,

“weakness” to them. The narcissistic parent places a love for self over all others including their


own child (ren). The narcissistic Parental Alienator is highly practiced at misleading others, even

those in high places such as judges, and experienced court-appointed psychologists. The PA is

also an expert at placing their evils onto the alienated parent. The narcissistic PA neither

recognizes his/her wrongdoing nor can he/she fully grasp the harm they are causing their child

(ren) and the alienated parent (Summers & Summers, 2006).

Most often the child victims involved are easily tricked into the lies they are told about

the alienated parent. The alienated parent whom the child once strongly loved is now hated with

the same passion the alienating parent holds for the alienated parent. In severe cases the child

(ren) will also hate the family members of the alienated parent they once had a loving

relationship. Frequently, the children will lie about the alienated parent to please the PA.

Sometimes the lies/false accusations are so evil that the alienated parent will face jail or prison

time. For instance, some victims of a PA will lie to the extent that their alienated parent has or

does sexually abuse them. The harm of continued subjection to the evils of the PA results in

irreversible damage to the child (ren) (Summers & Summers, 2006).

Both suicide rates and self-harm is high among those who have suffered at the hands of

the P.A.. Child victims of PA’s are not able to experience guilt or remorse for their hatred toward

the alienated parent. These children eventually become much like their PA parent. The PA’s

brainwashing will present itself in adulthood through such symptoms like their struggle with

producing sound choices. Symptoms also present when the sufferers treat their own offspring the

same way they were treated by their PA. Such symptoms result because of the dysfunctional

behaviors and thought patterns they are or were taught. Children who grow up under these type

conditions develop a sense of entitlement, which persists into adulthood. Once their sought after

conditions fail to turn out to meet their expectations they lack the skill to deal with such defeat


and become depressed and struggle from further issues of self-esteem (Summers & Summers,

2006).

Ben-Ami and Baker (2012) conducted a study, which included adult participants who as

children, parents divorced who did not experience parental alienation and adults who as children,

parents divorced and did experience PA. The study concluded that the adults who experienced

PA as children experience more mental health issues as adults. Ben-Ami & Baker also attempted

to identify whether or not such a disorder can occur as a result of PA. They indeed found that

those who suffer from PA as children do, in fact, fit criteria much the same that they term,

Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS). The result of the study was such that those who did

experience PA also experience greater dysfunction in all the areas tested, which include, “self-

sufficiency, lifetime prevalence of major depressive disorder, alcohol abuse, attachment style,

and self-esteem” (Ben-Ami & Baker, 2012, p 174).

Bernet, Boch-Galhau, Morrison and Baker (2010) designed a proposal for the revision of

the DSM-5 and the ICD-11 to consider parental alienation as a disorder. They have termed the

proposed disorders, “parental alienation disorder and parental alienation relational problem”,

(Bernet et al., 2010, p 80). Bernet et al. (2010) have discovered that an agreement in the mental

health field exists across the globe in relation to the actual existence of parental alienation.

Furthermore, those in the field globally, believe that several children/adolescents are affected by

PA, and most will likely develop the proposed mental/relational disorder, and parental alienation

disorder. Some of the reasons Bernet et al. (2010) and various mental health workers across the

globe agree to recognize PAS in the upcoming DSM and ICD revision, include risk factors such

as, interpersonal dynamics, issues in development, and that PA in itself may be an enduring and

acute mental disorder. Furthermore, PA and PAS is backed by measurable, replicable and


qualitative studies and data. Not only is parental alienation a serious mental disorder, but the

disorder appears to be persistent with a stable as well as a foreseeable course (Bernet et al.,

2010).

Baker (2005) sought to find commonalities between adults who suffered from parental

alienation as children. Baker put together a study, which included adults who have lived through

parental alienation, in an attempt to discover commonalities experienced with the alienator and in

symptoms of suffering. During the study, each participant underwent one hour interview

sessions. The sessions were voice recorded as well as transcribed word for word resulting in

about ten pages or so. Several shared findings were revealed. Among the findings are that three

levels of PA exist, such as mild, moderate, and severe (Baker, 2005).

In the mild cases, the children did experience the attempts of one parent as PA to turn the

child against the other parent, as well as some negative feedback against the alienated parent.

The child and alienated parent relationship, however, was not severely restrained. Among those

cases found of a more moderate nature, the findings revealed that serious brainwashing by the

PA against the alienated parent existed, and impediment of the relationship resulted. During

times of changeover from one parent to the other, strain transpired within the child but a healthy

connection continued to exist with the alienated parent and child relationship. Between the cases

that were considered severe, the bond of the alienated parent and child was utterly destroyed.

Both parental relationships for the child suffering from severe PA presented as entirely

unhealthy. The severe sufferer experienced unhealthy relationship/bond with the manipulative

alienating parent and an evil hatred toward the alienated parent that was based off of lies and

deceit, severing the bond of child and alienated parent (Baker, 2005).


Among the seven common results found across the study were low self-confidence/self-

esteem, melancholy, alienation from own children, lack of trust across relationships, high rates of

divorce, problems with addiction, as well as several other issues. In the category of self-esteem,

many participants experienced outright self-hatred for themselves. A pattern of object-relations

theory appears to transpire as a result of the hatred that the alienating parent holds toward the

alienated parent. The child holds this view too but likewise turns this hatred toward the inner-

self. The theory of object-relations describes that this hatred held by the alienating parent toward

the alienated parent teaches the child to have the same hatred toward the alienated parent but also

to the self of the child because the child recognizes they have half the DNA of the alienated

parent. The self-hatred was more prevalent among the adults who physically resembled the

alienated parent (Baker, 2005).

More often than not the alienating parents used lies to persuade the children that their

alienated parent did not love them. Most of the participants claimed during their sessions that

they felt unloved and unlovable because of the lies the alienating parent told them about the

alienated parent. The discoveries in the adult participants are such that the deep-seeded hatred

toward self was incorporated into them as children because they could not decipher whether or

not the alienating parent’s hatred was toward the alienated parent alone or toward them also

because of their resemblance of their alienated parent. Depression rates were also significantly

high among the participants, with a ratio of seven to ten (7:10). The depression appears to mostly

stem from the false idea that the alienated parent did not love them (Baker, 2005).

In the alienating house, many of the children were not allowed to speak of the alienated

parent, nor where they permitted to reference the alienated parent as, “mommy”, or “daddy”, etc.

The findings in the study provide that the PA sufferers/participants suffered tremendous loss but


that they were not allowed to experience the loss properly through the stages of grief (such as

DABDA), which may be a large contributing factor toward the mental disorders they suffer as

children and into adulthood. The study further resulted in high rates of substance, medication,

alcohol abuse, etc., (a ratio of about one to three (1:3) or roughly a third). Many of the sufferers

turned to these addictions in an attempt to cope with, avoid, or to stop the pain they experience

from PA. Many expressed that they took drugs, etc., to try to stop thinking about the hurts they

caused their alienated parent. Another very important discovery in the study is that most of the

adult children eventually hated their alienating parent. At least half of the participants were

estranged from one or more of their children as adults. Many other findings surfaced from

Bakers, (2005), study and are not listed here (Baker, 2005).

Mental health disorders are more common among divorced/separated women compared

to married women or women who have never married. Children who live in the households with

the mothers who are experiencing such mental disorders are affected by the experiences of the

mothers and often feel as though they are torn between both parents. These children suffer from

not knowing how to remain loyal to both parents and they may become more loyal to one parent

over the other because of the tension experienced, even without experiencing parental alienation.

The effects of parental divorce/separation never stop impacting children of divorced/separated

parents, thus affecting the remaining life (worldviews, outlook/perceptions, etc.) of the child

even as an adult. Difficult adjustment outcomes occur in the lives of children from split families

compared to children living in in-tact families (Afifi, Cox & Enns, 2006).

Married mothers compared to never married and divorced/separated mothers suffer lower

rates of mental disorders, such as generalized anxiety disorders, major depression, agoraphobia,

PTSD, substance/medication/alcohol abuse, etc., as well as anxious melancholy and antisocial


personality disorder. Never married and divorced/separated mothers are at increased risk of

living in poverty with their children. These children/adolescents are at increased risk of mental

disorders from both the added stressors of poverty as well as from living with a parent suffering

from mental disorders (Afifi et al., 2006; Flouri, 2004). Additional stresses are attributable to

living with a single parent and or in two separate parental homes. Add a parent who attempts to

alienate the child’s other biological parent and the child takes on severe undo stress in addition to

the serious life stressors they already have forced upon them (Sheets, Sandler & West, 1996).

Sheets, Sandler and West (1996) discovered high rates of anxiety, conduct disorders and

depressive disorders in their study on children whose parents divorced. Children from high

conflict divorced homes develop many psychological disorders and hold negative self-appraisals

when compared to those children who lived with both biological parents. Children clearly suffer

negative psychological impact when their parents’ divorce/separate. Children who suffer from

parental alienation resulting from parental divorce/separation are at greater increased risks of

mental disorders when compared to those children who do not experience PA but do come from

split homes, and rates are especially high when compared to children from in-tact homes (Sheets

et al., 1996). Many psychological therapeutic techniques/methods have been developed to benefit

children/adults who suffer from parental divorce/separation. None of the many

techniques/methods have proved beneficial for the PA sufferers, proving that those who

experience PA suffer differing and increased mental health issues compared to those from split

/in-tact homes who do not experience PA (Toren, 2013).

Cases of parental separation and divorce continue to rise each year. Numbers of children,

adolescents and adults symptomatic of PA appear also to be rising. No formal measuring devices

yet exist that would be beneficial for ruling in our out PA in children and or adults. Several in the


social sciences field though, believe that if and when PA becomes a recognized disorder, that

measuring devices will soon be developed thereafter helping professionals more easily recognize

the symptoms thereof. Furthermore, counseling methods specific to the needs of PA sufferers

will most likely develop. Additionally, the length of treatment times will also more than likely

shorten as more people are diagnosed and treated properly (Baker, 2005).

Predicted Results

“Children who undergo parental alienation are at higher risk of mental and or

personality disorders than those who do not undergo parental alienation.”

The results will show that PA sufferers have been negatively impacted from their

experiences, (which begin in their childhood/adolescent years) and have dealt with and continue

to deal with higher mental/personality disorder rates than those who have not experienced PA

growing up. Current trends suggest that one out of four persons in the United States suffer from

some form of mental/personality disorder (National Alliance on Mental Illness, 2013). Among

those trends is the prediction that PA sufferers are the majority compared with non-PA sufferers,

evidenced by the following chart, based on current and speculated trends of increase at 0.015/yr.

(Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013; Congressional Research Service, 2014).


Chart 1: (Chart 1 source: for year 2013 mental health trends; National Alliance on Mental

Illness: Mental Illness Facts and Numbers. (2013). Retrieved from

http://www.nami.org/factsheets/mentalillness_factsheet.pdf.).

Participants

Participants in the research proposal will include one hundred test subjects, fifty male and

fifty female, ages eighteen and up unless the adolescent is emancipated. The research subjects

will be targeted by advertisements on the internet such as through Facebook, Craigslist,

newspaper ads, and across college campuses in various schools to include the connecting states

of Arizona, Nevada and California. Sample inclusion criteria will include adults who have

experienced parental separation and or divorce. The participant pool will not be limited based on

demographics, income, religion, race, etc. Participants fitting the description through email

interview, computer cased self-questionnaire, as well as in-person interview will partake in the

proposed research.

Materials

Each subject will be requested to partake in a task to assess parental separation/divorce

relative to parental alienation and the potential for mental/personality disorders. Anonymity will

be assured for all subjects. After informed consent is received the subjects will move forward to

three different interviews to include email, written, and a voice recorded, in-person, semi-

structured interview. Completion of all three interviews will occur in one day.

Procedures

The subjects will undergo an initial self-assessment via email interview, a computerized

self-questionnaire, and last, an in-person interview (semi-structured interview). The test subjects

will be given full disclosure about the research, (such as what is being measured and how this


measuring will take place) during the initial email interview/questionnaire. The subjects will be

asked to email the address provided in the advertisements for their initial interview, they will be

expected to state they understand and agree to the terms. The computer questionnaire will ask

specific questions of the subjects. During the computer questionnaire portion, test subjects will

be placed in groups of twenty for computer testing, of which will take place in desks with

separators that will prevent subjects from seeing one another. Last, the subjects will meet with

five different observers for the in-person interview.

Procedural specifics are such that the subjects will be given a self-questionnaire of forty

computerized questions. After the computerized self-questionnaires are quantified, the subjects

will then be asked questions pertaining to their score and the answers given, which will occur

during their in-person interview. The subjects will also be given the floor for adding any

additional comments during this time. The in-person interview will include the forty questions

the subjects completed on the self-questionnaire, of which the observer will go over, and then the

observer will ask ten open-end questions. At this point in the interview the subjects will be

allowed to add to, or clarify their answers and or experiences during the open floor time, which

will be voice recorded.

After conclusion of the interviews, all subjects will be asked to call in if they need further

assistance with anything and they will be thanked for their time. Observers then will gather

together to discuss and decide outcomes based on past case presentations, the quantification

scores (using an interval Likert scale to determine differences between the two groups), of the

questionnaires, and the results of the open-end/open-floor questions. A consensus will be reached

with the use of the cross-lagged-panel correlation procedure to distinguish the direction of

causation between PA sufferers and mental/personality disorders.


Anticipated Descriptive and Inferential Statistics

The purpose of this study is to determine the impact that parental alienation has on one’s

mental/personality health. Qualitative and quantitative analysis will be used in combination. An

interval Likert item questionnaire will be utilized during the closed-end portion of the study,

which will be quantified statistically presenting a score to measure alienation and mental health

(using an independent samples t-test). In the qualitative portion of the data, themes and patterns

will be contrasted by the observers.

The mixing of both methods will provide that complementary strengths exist pertaining

to the acquired data. This method provides potential for non-overlapping weakness and will help

the observers to conclude findings in regard to the recognition of mental/personality disorders

among PA persons. The sample size will be sufficient and will exist across three separate states.

Potential problems with performing analysis are such that causal variables in correlational

research are often difficult to determine, however, the use of the mixed method of both

qualitative and quantitative will complement analysis.


References

Afifi, T. W., Cox, B.J., & Enns, M.W. (2006). Mental health profiles among married, never-

married, and separated/divorced mothers in a nationally representative sample. Social

Psychiatry & Psychiatric Epidemiology, 41 (2), 122-129.

Amato, P. E. & Cheatle, J. E. (2008). Parental divorce, marital conflict and children's behavior

problems: A comparison of adopted and biological children. Social Forces, 86 (3), 1139-

1161.

Baker, A. L. (2005). The long-term effects of parental alienation on adult children: A qualitative

research study. American Journal of Family Therapy, 33 (4), 289-302.

Baker, A. L. (2006). Patterns of parental alienation syndrome: A qualitative study of adults who

were alienated from a parent as a child. American Journal of Family Therapy, 34 (1), 63-

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Ben-Ami, N. L. & Baker, J. L. (2012). The long-term correlates of childhood exposure to

parental alienation on adult self-sufficiency and well-being. American Journal of Family

Therapy, 40 (2), 169-183.

Bernet, W. L. Boch-Galhau, W.V. Morrison, S. L. & Baker, A. (2010). Parental alienation,

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Mental illness surveillance among US adults.

(2013). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealthsurveillance/.

Congressional Research Service: Prevalence of mental illness in the United States: Data Sources

and Estimates. (2014). Retrieved from http:// http://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43047.pdf.

Fields, J. & L. Casper. 2001. America's families and living arrangements: March 2000. Current

Population Reports P20-537. Washington, DC: US Bureau of the Census.


Flouri, E. (2004). Correlates of parents' involvement with their adolescent children in

restructured and biological two-parent families: The role of child characteristics.

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Ikäheimo, O. Laukkanen, M. Hakko, H. Ra¨sa¨nen, P. (2013). Association of family structure to

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http://www.nami.org/factsheets/mentalillness_factsheet.pdf.

Sheets, V. I., Sandler, I., & West, S.G. (1996). Appraisals of negative events by preadolescent

children of divorce. Child Development, 67 (5), 2166-2182.

Summers, D. & Summers, C. (2006). Unadulterated arrogance: Autopsy of the narcissistic

parental alienator. American Journal of Family Therapy, 34 (5), 399-428.

Sun, Y. (2001), Family environment and adolescents ' well-being before and after parents'

marital disruption: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Marriage and Family, 63: 697–

713. doi: 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2001.00697.x.

Toren, P. N. (2013). Sixteen-Session group treatment for children and adolescents with parental

alienation and their parents. American Journal of Family Therapy, 41 (3), 187-197.

Documents

5053 Parental Alienation Research Proposal