In this study there was strong support for a link between crucial variables to the psychological climate of the divorced families (e.g.,
parental loyalty conflict, low caring in terms of emotional coldness, indifference, neglect, and high control in terms of overprotection, intrusion, excessive contact, infantilization, and prevention of independent behavior), self - esteem and well - being in adulthood.
Introducing
parental loyalty conflict behaviors (Block 2) explained an additional 1.9 % of variation in global psychological distress and this change in R2 was significant, F (4,418) = 11.23, p < 0.001.
; (4) Were reports of parental bonding and recall of exposure to
parental loyalty conflict behaviors associated with self - esteem?
Higher care scores, lower overprotection scores, and lower recall of exposure to
parental loyalty conflict behaviors were all associated with higher self - esteem scores.
Results revealed that GSI score was statistically positively associated with parental overprotection (r = 0.193, p < 0.01) and recall of exposure to
parental loyalty conflict behaviors (r = 0.239, p < 0.01), and was statistically negatively associated with age (r = -0.114, p < 0.05), parental care (r = -0.244, p < 0.01), and self - esteem (r = -0.537, p < 0.01).
Results revealed that exposure to
parental loyalty conflict behaviors and self - esteem were associated with psychological distress over and above the effects of parental bonding and age.
In order to examine the relationship between exposure to
parental loyalty conflict behaviors and parental bonding, we examined mean differences in BSQ scores by PBI quadrants (optimal parenting, affectionate constraint, affectionless control, neglectful parenting).
Data did not necessarily reflect the full complement of
parental loyalty conflict behaviors to which the person had been exposed.
Given the potential detrimental impact of
parental loyalty conflict behaviors on the well - being of children, it is critical to develop interventions to address this phenomenon.
The final significant finding was that high exposure to
parental loyalty conflict behaviors and low self - esteem were associated with psychological distress even after controlling for quality of the parent — child relationship.
; (3) Did recall of exposure to
parental loyalty conflict behaviors vary by parental bonding?
Results: About 80 % of the sample reported some exposure to parental alienating behaviors; about 65 — 70 % of the sample has perceived non-optimal parenting by mother and by father; individuals who experienced affectionless control (low care and high overprotection) reported significantly higher exposure to
parental loyalty conflict behaviors.
This study investigated the prevalence of recall of childhood exposure to
parental loyalty conflict behaviors, the kind of parental bonding perceived by adults whose parents had separated or divorced, and the link between parental functioning, individual self - esteem and psychological distress.
The specific questions in the current study included: (1) What is the prevalence of recall of childhood exposure to
parental loyalty conflict behaviors in an Italian population of adults whose parents had separated or divorced?
All of these variables were entered into hierarchical regression to test whether psychological distress was predicted by parental functioning (in terms of care, overprotection and exposure to
parental loyalty conflict behaviors) and by self - esteem.
As can be seen parental care, parental overprotection, and recall of exposure to
parental loyalty conflict behaviors were statistically significantly associated with self - esteem.
To address the first research question about the prevalence of childhood exposure to
parental loyalty conflict behaviors, the proportion of respondents who endorsed each of the 20 behaviors was calculated with frequency distributions (see Table 1).
Therefore, the current data demonstrate that exposure to
parental loyalty conflict behaviors and low self - esteem can also increase an adult's risk of psychological distress.
In regression a GSI score was the dependent variable and parental care, parental overprotection, and age were entered as a first block, recall of exposure to
parental loyalty conflict behaviors was added in the second block followed by self - esteem in the third block.
Overall rates of reported exposure to low care, and overprotection and
parental loyalty conflict behaviors were statistically significantly associated with self - esteem as well as the measure of current psychological distress.
Italian adults» recall of childhood exposure to
parental loyalty conflicts.
Several studies have shown significant associations between recall of exposure to
parental loyalty conflicts behaviors and negative outcomes in adulthood as a low autonomy, low cooperativeness, low self - esteem, depressive symptoms, and psychological distress (Baker and Ben - Ami, 2011; Ben - Ami and Baker, 2012; Verrocchio and Baker, 2013; Bernet et al., 2015).
Not exact matches
Out of 739 adults who were children when their parents divorced, 75 % said they were exposed to
parental alienation behaviors, and many stated they felt «
loyalty conflict» with their parents.
Fifteen percent agreed at least one parent «tried to turn me against the other parent» Adults with a history of childhood alienation experiences had a significantly lower quality of life than adults who did not experience
parental alienation and
loyalty conflict (Bernet et al. 2015; Verrocchio & Baker 2015).
Their increasing ability to empathize makes them at special risk for experiencing
loyalty conflicts, putting themselves in the middle of
parental conflict, or siding with one parent over the other.
Ph.D., is a nationally recognized leader and expert in the field of
parental alienation and
loyalty conflicts.
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loyalty and alliance.
By choosing cases which met the majority of these criteria, the authors were selecting for situations which embodied severe
parental alienation, rather than the more common and more moderate instances of
loyalty conflicts which are widely evident in the children of conflictual divorcing parents.
Getting Through My Parents» Divorce: A Workbook for Children Coping with Divorce,
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loyalty binds,
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That diminishes the
parental conflict the adversarial system generates and helps protect children from facing the anguish and divided
loyalties that result, both during and after the divorce.
The latter consists of therapeutic games, art techniques, andstories to help children of divorce express feelings, understandmarriage and divorce, deal with
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Keywords:
parental separation / divorce,
loyalty conflicts,
parental bonding, self - esteem, psychological distress
The purpose of this article is to suggest sound practices about
parental alienation (PA) and
parental alienation syndrome (PAS) and to identify some key prevention and intervention issues so that mental health professionals who counsel children and families experiencing
loyalty conflicts or
parental alienation tactics will be better prepared to help this highly vulnerable population.
Counselors also need to be ready to confer with experts, to work with professionals from other disciplines, to apply strategically and appropriately evidence - based practices, and then to do what can be done to free the alienated and at - risk child from the short - and long - term damaging effects of the
loyalty conflicts of PAS and
parental alienation.