The Life Paths and Lived Experiences of Adults Who Have Experienced Parental Alienation: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

This qualitative study concerns the life paths and lived experiences of 6 adults who have been alienated from a parent in the past. The results suggest several hypotheses concerning the factors that might place children at risk of being alienated from a parent. The presence of postseparation conflict and, in some cases, domestic violence, as well as the triangulation of the child appear to be elements that favor the emergence of parental alienation. Moreover, this study supports a multifactorial explanation of parental alienation. In the scope of lived experience, respondents associated alienation with difficulties at school, internal and external behavior problems, and a search for identity after reaching adulthood. Finally, overcoming the state of alienation involves issues surrounding the establishment of boundaries with the alienating parent and the rebuilding of a relationship with the alienated parent.

Keywords:

• parental alienation
• postseparation conflict
• triangulation

Acknowledgments

This article presents the results of a study carried out by Elisabeth Godbout in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Social Work degree. This study was funded in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Centre jeunesse de Québec-Institut universitaire. We wish to thank Toula Kourgiantakis for her help during the translation of the article.