Making meaning of parenting from the perspective of alienated parents

Abstract

More than 13% of parents identify as being alienated by at least one of their children. Parental alienation often occurs after divorce when one parent (un)intentionally persuades his or her children to distance themselves from or reject the other parent. This study, couched in relational dialectics theory, explores the meaning of parenting from the perspective of 40 alienated parents. This analysis yielded two competing discourses: the culturally dominant discourse of parental norms (DPN) and the culturally marginalized discourse of parental victimization (DPV). Throughout the narrative interviews, the DPV resisted the DPN in four ways (diachronic separation, entertaining, countering, and negating). This study's findings provide insights into the perspective of the alienated parents, advance what we know about family distancing, and provide practical implications.

Looking for politically like‐minded partners: Self‐presentation and partner‐vetting strategies on dating apps

“…Before and during my interviews with female respondents, I emphasized my academic training in gender and communication studies and my previous research in the gender politics of online dating. Furthermore, researchers have highlighted the importance of building rapport with their respondents (Scharp et al, 2020). My previous dating app experience allowed me to build trust with my respondents.…”

“I hate all the children, especially mine”: Applying relational dialectics theory to examine the experiences of formerly childfree regretful parents

“…Next along the continuum is diachronic separation which manifests as: (a) segmentation and (b) spiraling inversion. Segmentation occurs when a semantic objects' meaning changes over time (e.g., Wenzel & Poynter, 2014) whereas spiraling inversion occurs when the dominance of two competing discourses changes over time (e.g., Scharp et al, 2021). To date, RDT researchers have paid less attention to diachronic separation, relegating it as a moderate form of competition.…”