# Parental alienation – a valid experience?

## TL;DR

This study explores whether parental alienation is a valid concept in the Nordic context and finds it to be a harmful behavior affecting both parents.

## Contribution

The study confirms the construct validity of parental alienation and its association with mental health and well-being.

## Key findings

- Parental alienation is not gender-specific and affects both fathers and mothers.
- Alienation strategies show high internal reliability and contribute to strong construct validity.
- Parental alienation is linked to mental ill-health and impaired well-being.

## Abstract

The phenomenon of ‘parental alienation’ is controversial and little explored in the Nordic countries. We wanted to investigate whether parental alienation is a valid concept and how it is perceived in a Nordic context.

The study was based on an online survey where the participants were self-recruited. We received responses from 1212 participants. Bivariate and multivariate models were used to test the associations between parental alienation and gender, other intimate partner violence, depressive health problems and reduced well-being.

Visitation sabotage and parental alienation are realities for both fathers and mothers. It was most frequently directed at fathers, but such behaviour is not gender specific. Eight different alienation strategies have high internal reliability, and all items contribute to high Cronbach’s alpha. Construct validity was confirmed by the fact that parental alienation is strongly associated with visitation sabotage and with other forms of destructive relational behaviour. Visitation sabotage and false accusations increase gradually with the degree of parental alienation. The construct validity of parental alienation was also confirmed by dose–response associations with both mental ill-health and impaired well-being in adjusted analyses.

The phenomenon of parental alienation is recognized among parents as a form of harmful behaviour where both mothers and fathers suffer. The construct validity was supported in this study. Such behaviour should be recognized as a form of domestic violence by professional communities in health and social services and be subject to legal action.