• DOI:10.1007/s10826-021-01914-6
• Corpus ID: 233935568

What Does it Mean to be a Targeted Parent? Parents’ Experiences in the Context of Parental Alienation

@article{Tavares2021WhatDI,
  title={What Does it Mean to be a Targeted Parent? Parents’ Experiences in the Context of Parental Alienation},
  author={Ana Tavares and Carla Crespo and Maria Teresa Ribeiro},
  journal={Journal of Child and Family Studies},
  year={2021},
  volume={30},
  pages={1370 - 1380}
}

• A. Tavares, C. Crespo, M. Ribeiro
• Published 12 February 2021
• Psychology
• Journal of Child and Family Studies

The term parental alienation refers to the negative influence of one parent over a child’s perception of the other parent (targeted parent). The aim of this research was to gain further understanding of targeted parents’ experience of parental alienation from their own perspectives. For this qualitative study, a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with eight participants aged between 33 and 51 years was conducted. The data from individual semi-structured interviews enabled the identification of four main themes: perception of personal impact, coping strategies, family relationships and support network. Parents identified a serious impairment of their physical and emotional well-being and mainly identified emotion-focused coping strategies to deal with this adverse ongoing situation. Furthermore, they reported changes in key relationships, with emphasis on difficulties in family and social contexts. The contribution of the findings to research and interventions with parents and families experiencing parental alienation are discussed. Targeted parents report negative mental health outcomes. In terms of coping, targeted parents report more emotional-focused than problem-focused strategies. Changes in family and social support in the context of parental alienation can be detrimental to targeted parents’ well-being. Multi-systemic interventions can be beneficial for improving targeted parents’ well-being and family relationships. Targeted parents report negative mental health outcomes. In terms of coping, targeted parents report more emotional-focused than problem-focused strategies. Changes in family and social support in the context of parental alienation can be detrimental to targeted parents’ well-being. Multi-systemic interventions can be beneficial for improving targeted parents’ well-being and family relationships.