Examining the prevalence and impact of parental alienating behaviors (PABs) in separated parents in the United Kingdom

Hine, Benjamin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9732-4631 , Harman, Jennifer, Leder-Elder, Sadie and Bates, Elizabeth ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8694-8078 (2025) Examining the prevalence and impact of parental alienating behaviors (PABs) in separated parents in the United Kingdom. Journal of Family Violence .

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Abstract

Purpose: There is limited research on the prevalence of parental alienating behaviors (PABs), with previous studies limited to the United States and Canada. It is critical that such research is conducted in and expanded to various countries and jurisdictions to further support the identification of alienating behaviors as a serious form of domestic abuse that is experienced by a significant proportion of separated or divorced parents.

Methods: Using a sample of 1005 separated or divorced parents in the United Kingdom, this study examined the prevalence of PABs, the manifestation of behaviors in children and their contact refusal (as measured by the five-factor model), and the relationship between PABs and mental health and other forms of abuse.

Results: Results showed that, depending on how they were asked, between 39 and 59% of the sample had experienced PABs, with 36.5% identified as non-reciprocal targeted parents. This percentage dropped to 3.5% when assessed in the context of other factors (i.e., prior good relationship). Nearly all (96.7%) of participants reported manifestations of alienation in their children, but this again dropped (to 2.9%) when taking other factors into account. Finally, parents reporting higher levels of PABs also reported greater mental health issues (i.e., depression, PTSD, suicide ideation) and higher levels of other forms of abuse.

Conclusions: It is argued that these results add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that PABs are a form of abuse and a significant public health emergency, but that further debate on how alienation is measured in relation to the process (i.e., PABs) versus the outcome (i.e., contact rejection).

Item Type:	Article
Journal / Publication Title:	Journal of Family Violence
Publisher:	Springer
ISSN:	1573-2851
Departments:	Institute of Health > Psychology and Psychological Therapies
Additional Information:	Dr Elizabeth A. Bates, PhD, Associate Professor in Family Violence and Abuse and Principal Lecturer in Psychology and Psychological Therapies, University of Cumbria, UK. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made.
Depositing User:	Anna Lupton
Date Deposited:	17 Jun 2025 10:39
Last Modified:	17 Jun 2025 11:00
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/8926

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