Separating the Wheat from the Chaff on Parental Alienation Research

It can be hard for those who aren’t scientists to separate good scientific research from bad research or even from pseudoscientific writing. This is true in the area of research on parental alienation as much as, and maybe more than, in other areas. 

That is unfortunate because severe alienating behaviors are child abuse, a form of coercive control that is extremely damaging to children and to the targeted parent. This makes it all the more important to separate sound from shoddy research.

The Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC) recognized this problem, which is why that AFCC organized a webinar on the topic: “Claims and Counterclaims in Parental Alienation: What’s a Family Court Professional To Do?” (1/26/2021). 

Now, the Parental Alienation Collaborative, of which National Parents Organization is a member, comes to the aid of AFCC and any others struggling to separate the wheat from the chaff of parental alienation research. Parental Alienation, UK, another group in this international collaborative that was created to combat misinformation about parental alienation, designed this helpful, one-page handout making it clear how true scientific research about parental alienation can be distinguished from agenda-driven “research”.

Please share this handout with any individual or group that is struggling to identify good research in this area. And, as well, share the other one-page handouts on parental alienation that have been developed by the Parental Alienation Collaborative that are also available on our website here.