Summary of research article: Parental Denigration Boomerangs Versus Alienates: Parent–Child Closeness, Reciprocity, and Well‐Being Using Multiple Informants. (Rowen, J. & Emery, R. .E., 2019)

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Research reveals meaningful results for parents who have experienced denigration by a co-parent or child due to custody and divorce.

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Research study found: “Denigration (of a parent) appears to boomerang not alienate. Children consistently report feeling less close to parents who denigrate more than to parents who are the target of denigration.”

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This study, conducted by Rowen and Emory, assesses “parental denigration, parents demeaning each other to or in front of their children, and whether denigration is one‐sided or reciprocal, related to distance or closeness between parents and children, and associated with measures of children’s well‐being.”

The researchers state “The alienation and conflict hypotheses make opposite predictions about (a) whether denigration is one-sided (alienation or reciprocal (conflict) and (b) whether denigration distances children from the parent who is denigrated (alienation) or from both parent (conflict).”

“The present findings indicate that when one parent puts down the other to his or her children, the overwhelming effect at the group level is for children to feel more distant from the parent who makes disparaging comments. In short, denigration has a boomerang effect. In direct contrast to the alienation hypothesis, putting down a coparent is likely to hurt one’s own relationship with children more than to negatively influence a coparent’s relationship with the children.”

The authors further claim: “The parental alienation hypothesis argues that denigration is one‐sided and distances children from the denigrated parent. Parental conflict research suggests that denigration is reciprocal and distances children from both parents, particularly the more frequently denigrating parent.”

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Participants and Assessment

Study assessed 994 participants.  Subjects were recruited from several sources.  Via online paid source: 273  participants (age range of 18-30), 157 college students/sibling pairs, 165 students without siblings, and  121 twins pairs.  Nine assessment tools and interview were used in this study. Participants were asked about their perception of the denigration between parents, parental conflict, the parent-child relationship, parenting style, depression and anxiety, life-satisfaction, and feelings about divorce.

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Key research findings

Increased denigration scores correlated with higher levels of parental conflict.

“Young people reported feeling more distant from the parent who did more denigrating than from the parent who was the target of denigration.”

“More frequent denigration also was associated with feeling less close to both parents.”

“Reported denigration was statistically higher in divorced families, for mothers, and for mothers in divorced families.”

“Inspection of individual cases revealed only nine instances of one‐sided denigration, and those informants reported feeling substantially closer to the denigrating than the denigrated parent in only one of those nine cases of one‐sided instances of denigration.”

“More frequent denigration was associated with poorer parent–child relationship quality across parents and marital status for both the denigrated and, importantly, the denigrator parent.

Reports of denigration by younger siblings were correlated with reports of parent-child quality by older siblings.

Older siblings’ reports of denigration of fathers by mothers were negatively correlated with younger siblings’ reports of satisfaction with life and were positively correlated with younger siblings’ reports of depressive symptoms, although these associations were not statistically significant.

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Summary

“The parental alienation hypothesis argues that denigration is one‐sided and distances children from the denigrated parent. Parental conflict research suggests that denigration is reciprocal and distances children from both parents, particularly the more frequently denigrating parent.”

Results are important for parents who have experienced emotional and physical separation from their child due to actions and comments by a co-parent.  For some parents, this information indicates hope for the parent-child relationship and may help with the sense of rejection many parents experience.  

In essence, “denigration appears to boomerang not alienate. Children consistently report feeling less close to parents who denigrate more than to parents who are the target of denigration.” 

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Considerations about this study

This study involved specific populations via online test, college students and siblings, and twins. Future research assessing diverse populations could lead to generalizable results in parent-child relationships additional among families of custody and divorce.

Notably, tests of inter-rater reliability were conducted indicating internal consistency with time and sibling responses and among twins.

Citation:

Rowen, J. & Emery, R. .E. (2019). Parental Denigration Boomerangs Versus Alienates: Parent–Child Closeness, Reciprocity, and Well‐Being Using Multiple Informants. Family relations Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Science., Feb 2019, V 68, No. 1. p. 119-134.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/fare.12324

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