Denial of ambivalence as a hallmark of parental alienation

Jaffe, Alan M.; Thakkar, Mehul; Piron, Pascale

doi:10.1080/23311908.2017.1327144

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 21 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This research supports the reality of parental alienation, in that the severely alienated children consistently manifested a distinct maladaptive mental mechanism, an intense level of splitting, which had previously been described in descriptive, qualitative research for many years (5,(20)(21)(22). Also, the high level of splitting was observed in alienated children, but was not observed in the other family groups.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…Also, Ellis said that one of the features of parental alienation is “the mechanism of splitting to reduce ambiguity” (p. 60) . Most recently, Jaffe, Thakkar, and Piron published qualitative research regarding “denial of ambivalence as a hallmark of parental alienation.” They said, “The expressed lack of ambivalence as manifested by the alienated child serves as an observable defining characteristic of the presence of parental alienation” (p. 1) . The research reported here presents a quantitative method to identify the mental mechanism of splitting in alienated children, which has been described qualitatively so many times.…”

Section: Splitting In Parental Alienationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Also, Ellis (21) said that one of the features of parental alienation is "the mechanism of splitting to reduce ambiguity" (p. 60) (21). Most recently, Jaffe, Thakkar, and Piron (22) published qualitative research regarding "denial of ambivalence as a hallmark of parental alienation." They said, "The expressed lack of ambivalence as manifested by the alienated child serves as an observable defining characteristic of the presence of parental alienation" (p. 1) (22).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

An Objective Measure of Splitting in Parental Alienation: The Parental Acceptance–Rejection Questionnaire

Bernet

Gregory

Reay³

et al. 2017

Journal of Forensic Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Both clinicians and forensic practitioners should distinguish parental alienation (rejection of a parent without legitimate justification) from other reasons for contact refusal. Alienated children-who were not abused-often engage in splitting and lack ambivalence with respect to the rejected parent; children who were maltreated usually perceive the abusive parent in an ambivalent manner. The purpose of this study was to assess the usefulness of the Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire (PARQ) in identifying and quantifying the degree of splitting, which may assist in diagnosing parental alienation. Results showed that severely alienated children engaged in a high level of splitting, by perceiving the preferred parent in extremely positive terms and the rejected parent in extremely negative terms. Splitting was not manifested by the children in other family groups. The PARQ may be useful for both clinicians and forensic practitioners in evaluating children of divorced parents when there is a concern about the possible diagnosis of parental alienation.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Splitting In Parental Alienationmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

An Objective Measure of Splitting in Parental Alienation: The Parental Acceptance–Rejection Questionnaire

Bernet

Gregory

Reay³

et al. 2017

Journal of Forensic Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Clinicians and researchers have outlined numerous symptoms that are indications that a child has been or is being alienated from a parent (Spruijt, Eikelenboom, Harmeling, Stokkers, & Kormos, 2005), including using a campaign of denigration against the TP, making frivolous rationalizations for their complaints about the TP, using borrowed scenarios created by the alienating parent (AP) such that the child’s stories about past events are nearly exactly the same as the AP’s version (even using identical words), and spreading animosity about the TP to other people. When the child rejects a parental figure, their behavior is often accompanied by a lack of overt ambivalence, guilt, or remorse for their rejection (Baker & Eichler, 2016; Jaffe, Thakkar, & Piron, 2017), and the child will automatically side with the AP in any argument or conflict.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Parental alienating behaviors: An unacknowledged form of family violence.

Harman

Kruk

Hines

2018

Psychological Bulletin

104

106

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Despite affecting millions of families around the world, parental alienation has been largely unacknowledged or denied by legal and health professionals as a form of family violence. This complex form of aggression entails a parental figure engaging in the long-term use of a variety of aggressive behaviors to harm the relationship between their child and another parental figure, and/or to hurt the other parental figure directly because of their relationship with their child. Like other forms of family violence, parental alienation has serious and negative consequences for family members, yet victims are often blamed for their experience. In order to be recognized as a form of family violence and to secure protection for victims under law and social policies, a formal review and comparison of parental alienating behaviors and outcomes to child abuse and intimate partner violence has been sorely needed. The result of this review highlights how the societal denial of parental alienation has been like the historical social and political denial or other forms of abuse in many parts of the world (e.g., child abuse a century ago). Reframing parental alienating behaviors as a form of family violence also serves as a desperate call to action for social scientists to focus more theoretical and empirical attention to this topic. Public Significance StatementThis article presents parental alienating behaviors as a form of family violence with serious consequences for children and families. Professional recognition of parental alienation and the alienating behaviors that cause it is a necessary first step toward stimulating much needed research in this area and in the development and testing of effective clinical, educational, and legal interventions to prevent and mitigate the damaging effects of this form of family violence.

show abstract

“…Recently, Jaffe, Thakkar, and Piron related to how an alienated child's denial of ambivalence was expressed in an elaborate case derived from “a sample of forensic child custody interviews court ordered and conducted by the authors” . For example, when asked whether she could say something positive about her mother, the child said, “She's not ugly.…”

Section: Significance Of Splittingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring the Difference Between Parental Alienation and Parental Estrangement: The PARQ‐Gap

Bernet

Gregory

Rohner

et al. 2020

Journal of Forensic Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Parental alienation (rejection of a parent without legitimate justification) and realistic estrangement (rejection of a parent for a good reason) are generally accepted concepts among mental health and legal professionals. Alienated children, who were not abused, tend to engage in splitting and lack ambivalence with respect to their parents; estranged children, who were maltreated, usually perceive their parents in an ambivalent manner. The hypothesis of this study was that a psychological test—the Parental Acceptance–Rejection Questionnaire (PARQ)—will help to distinguish severely alienated from nonalienated children. The PARQ, which was used to identify and quantify the degree of splitting for each participant, was administered to 45 severely alienated children and 71 nonalienated children. The PARQ‐Gap score—the difference between each child's PARQ: Father score and PARQ: Mother score—was introduced and defined in this research. Using a PARQ‐Gap score of 90 as a cut point, this test was 99% accurate in distinguishing severely alienated from nonalienated children. This research presents a way to distinguish parental alienation from other reasons for contact refusal. The PARQ‐Gap may be useful for both clinicians and forensic practitioners in evaluating children of separating and divorced parents when there is a concern about the possible diagnosis of parental alienation.

show abstract

Denial of ambivalence as a hallmark of parental alienation

Cited by 10 publications

References 21 publications

An Objective Measure of Splitting in Parental Alienation: The Parental Acceptance–Rejection Questionnaire

An Objective Measure of Splitting in Parental Alienation: The Parental Acceptance–Rejection Questionnaire

Parental alienating behaviors: An unacknowledged form of family violence.

Measuring the Difference Between Parental Alienation and Parental Estrangement: The PARQ‐Gap

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About