How Do Family Court Judges Theorize about Parental Alienation? A Qualitative Exploration of the Territory.

Abstract in brief

• The study explores how family court judges understand and describe parental alienation (PA), revealing a complex view with five key themes including the contexts in which PA occurs, its severity, influencing factors, impacts on individuals, and signs of change.
• Judges perceive PA as a multifaceted and sometimes strategic process that involves different behaviors, functions, and identification clues, with properties like being adaptable, intentional, and sometimes disguised.
• The research highlights the importance of considering power imbalances, the multifactorial nature of PA, and its potential destructiveness, offering insights for future studies, legal practice, and how judges think about and address PA in custody cases.