A Phenomenological Study of Parental Estrangement

ABSTRACT

In the United States, the divorce rate is 40% to 50%, according to National Marriage and Divorce Rate Trends (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). Gaining an understanding of the lived experience of parental estrangement for a child during the parental divorce was the goal of this study. For the 9 adult participants who experienced parental estrangement as children, each reported themes including anger, disappointment, isolation, control, and impact. In this study, the predominantly alienating parent was the custodial parent. The results indicated that it did not matter if the noncustodial parent lived down the street or several states away; the estrangement that developed was the same for each of them.

KEYWORDS:

• Moustakas
• parental estrangement
• phenomenology

Acknowledgments

Portions of this article originally appeared in Patrick C. Beebe’s doctoral dissertation, “A Phenomenological Study of Parental Estrangement,” 2016.