Parental alienation, partner abuse: Two sides of same coin, says social psychologist

Date:
September 16, 2021
Source:
Colorado State University
Summary:
According to a new study, parental alienating behaviors and
coercively controlling abuse are similar, and should be treated
similarly in family court proceedings.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Abusive intimate relationships are sometimes characterized by a power imbalance, with the abuser maintaining control over the abused party
by limiting their financial, social and other choices. This is known as coercive control, or battery when severe physical abuse is involved. But
what happens when the abuser uses the couple's children as a weapon
of control?

==========================================================================
This particular situation has a name -- parental alienating behaviors
-- and Colorado State University social psychologist Jennifer Harman
has devoted much of her career to bringing awareness to the issue via scientific inquiry.

Parental alienating behaviors are those in which a parent tries to
baselessly turn a child against the other parent, usually during a divorce
or separation, through actions like bad-mouthing, lying, guilting or
rewarding. Such behaviors result in parental alienation, in which a child
turns against a parent for unjust or untrue reasons. Harman and colleagues
note that it is important to distinguish alienation from estrangement,
which is when the child severs ties with the parent for legitimate reasons
like abuse or abandonment. Alienation occurs when the child severs ties
with a parent who is fit to parent but has been painted falsely otherwise.

A new study by Harman, an associate professor at CSU, and colleagues
published in the peer-reviewed journal Personal Relationshipsis the
first to apply longstanding interdependence theory to the power dynamics
in families affected by parental alienation. Interdependence theory is
an approach to categorizing interpersonal relationships, focusing on
how each person's outcomes depend on the actions of others. It defines
how and why people make certain choices within relationships, and how dependencies on others can create power imbalances in relationships.

Asymmetries of power The study, co-authored by Harman's graduate student, Caitlyn Grubb, and University of Illinois researcher Christopher Maniotes,
was based on detailed interviews with 50 fathers and 29 mothers who had
been alienated from their children. Most of these families exhibited asymmetries in power between the parents, underscoring the argument
that parental alienation and coercively controlling abuse are similar
-- two sides of the same coin, Harman said, and they should be treated similarly in family court proceedings.



==========================================================================
"Our findings show that parental alienating behaviors more closely
resemble coercively controlling violence, intimate terrorism and battery
than other more common types of abuse, such as situational couple
violence," Harman said.

"Parental alienating behaviors are abusive and should be included under legislation and policies that seek to protect children." Imbalances
of power are created by alienating parents who employ controlling
strategies like harassment, threats and intimidation. The resulting
climate disempowers the other parent by making them feel their behavioral options are limited, fearing they will lose their children or become
hurt themselves.

About 80% of the situations studied involved asymmetries of power, some
of which could be described as games of "chicken" -- providing only
two, narrow choices to the parent with less power, perpetrated by the alienating parent in order to gain or maintain control of the parenting dynamic. The researchers also found that such asymmetries were most
prevalent when the perpetrating parent had primary or sole custody of
the children.

Harman and her colleagues' work also shows that parental alienation
is mostly gender-neutral; both fathers and mothers do it at about the
same rates, although they use different tactics. This gender neutrality
matches national statistics on other abusive behaviors like stalking,
physical and sexual abuse.

"We don't see gender differences in many other types of abusers,"
Harman said.

How children suffer While parental alienation is essentially partner
abuse, the children suffer, too, Harman said. In a recently published
review paper, she discussed the losses alienated children endure,
including childhood experiences, extended family, community, activities
and relationships.

Over the span of several years of research on the topic, Harman
has fielded mountains of criticism from those who believe parental
alienation is an excuse used by abusive parents in order to dodge child
abuse allegations. A paper she and co-author Demosthenes Lorandos, an
attorney and forensic psychologist, published earlier this year rebutted
those claims. Harman plans to continue publishing research that brings credibility and awareness to the problems parental alienation causes
for families, children and society at large.

Earlier this year, Harman received the CSU 14'er award,
one of several university-wide Provost's Awards for
Faculty Excellence. The 14'er "recognizes exceptional
achievements demonstrating unique vision, creativity and grit." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Colorado_State_University. Original
written by Anne Manning. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Jennifer J. Harman, Christopher R. Maniotes, Caitlyn Grubb. Power
dynamics in families affected by parental alienation. Personal
Relationships, 2021; DOI: 10.1111/pere.12392 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210916114558.htm

--- up 2 weeks, 8 hours, 25 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)