The Long-term Effects of Parental Alienation on Children: Miralles 2023 Systematic Review
A plain-language summary of the authors' 2023 research in Current Psychology — Long-term emotional consequences of parental alienation exposure in children of divorced parents: A systematic review.
Summarised by Malcolm Smith on behalf of Love Over Exile. Last updated 29 April 2026 . Reviewed against the published primary source (DOI 10.1007/s12144-021-02537-2 ) .
TL;DR
- Headline review · 13 studies, ~4,200 adults, PRISMA-informed. Miralles, Godoy & Hidalgo (2023), in *Current Psychology* 42:12055-12069, conducted the most-cited recent systematic review of long-term consequences of childhood parental-alienation exposure. The PRISMA-informed search across eleven electronic databases identified 13 included studies (12 journal articles + 1 doctoral thesis) with an aggregate adult sample of approximately 4,200, dominantly US and Italian.
- The seven-outcome cluster · Depression, addiction, attachment, intergenerational repetition. Childhood exposure to parental alienating behaviours is associated, in adulthood, with: (1) higher depression and anxiety symptoms, (2) higher overall psychopathology risk, (3) lower self-esteem and self-sufficiency, (4) higher alcohol and drug-use rates, (5) insecure attachment and parental-relationship difficulties, (6) lower life quality and higher divorce rates, and (7) feelings of loss, abandonment and guilt — plus reported intergenerational repetition of alienating behaviours.
- Outcome-evidence pair · Pairs with Verhaar 2022 qualitative companion. It is the systematic-review pair to Verhaar 2022 — the most-cited single qualitative study of adult outcomes. Together they form the outcome-evidence pair: Miralles aggregates findings across multiple studies; Verhaar gives texture and magnitude. Verhaar 2022 is NOT in Miralles's 13 included studies because the search closed December 2019 and Verhaar published April 2022.
- Methodological strengths and limits · PRISMA + dual-reviewer; no pooled effect sizes. Methodological strength: PRISMA-informed reporting, dual-reviewer screening, eleven-database coverage, US plus Italian primary literature. Methodological limit: narrative synthesis with no pooled effect sizes; included studies dominantly retrospective and self-report; no UK or non-US/non-Italian samples; mixed instrument quality across primary studies.
- What the review does NOT support · No causation, no UK samples, mostly self-report. It does not establish causation — every included study was retrospective. It does not quantify how many exposed children develop each outcome. It does not speak directly to UK populations. It does not directly measure clinical diagnoses against structured interview — most depression/anxiety findings are self-report screens (BDI, BSI, BAI, Rosenberg).
The Study at a Glance
| Authors | Miralles, P., Godoy, C., & Hidalgo, M. D. |
|---|---|
| Published | 2023 |
| Journal | Current Psychology , 42 , pp. 12055-12069 |
| Method | PRISMA-informed systematic review of empirical research on long-term emotional consequences of childhood parental-alienation exposure in adults whose parents had divorced. Search across eleven electronic databases (PsycInfo, MEDLINE, SCOPUS, Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane Library, DART-Europe, ProQuest, Wiley, TESEO, Dialnet) plus citation chaining; closed December 2019. Dual-reviewer screening with consensus resolution. Narrative synthesis, no effect-size meta-analysis. 13 included studies (12 journal articles + 1 doctoral thesis), aggregate adult sample approximately N=4,200, dominated by US and Italian primary research. |
| Sample | 13 included studies (12 journal articles + 1 doctoral thesis); aggregate adult sample N approximately 4,200, dominantly US and Italian; included studies span 2005-2019. |
| DOI | 10.1007/s12144-021-02537-2 (open) |
| Full paper | View primary source → |
Love Over Exile is a plain-language research archive on parental alienation, written by Malcolm Smith — an alienated parent and author of the forthcoming book Love Over Exile — for non-specialist readers (other alienated parents, family members, therapists, lawyers) who want to understand the evidence base without a psychology degree or a journal subscription. This page is one entry in that archive.
Definition · Long-term effects of parental alienation
The long-term effects of parental alienation are the emotional, psychological and relational consequences observable in adulthood among people who experienced parental alienating behaviours during childhood. Miralles, Godoy & Hidalgo (2023), in Current Psychology 42:12055-12069, conducted the most-cited recent PRISMA-informed systematic review of this question — synthesising 13 studies across approximately 4,200 adults from US and Italian primary samples — and identified a seven-outcome cluster: depression, anxiety, lower self-esteem and self-sufficiency, higher alcohol and drug-use rates, insecure attachment, lower life quality and higher divorce rates, and feelings of loss, abandonment and guilt — plus intergenerational repetition of the alienating behaviours.
Working definition consistent with the qualitative-pair finding in Verhaar, Matthewson & Bentley (2022) — the most-cited single qualitative study of adult outcomes — and the foundational behavioural-strategy taxonomy in Baker (2007).
What the Researchers Asked
What happens to children of parental alienation when they grow up?
For most of the post-2000 PA literature, that question was answered one study at a time. Baker’s 2007 Adult Children of Parental Alienation Syndrome documented qualitative themes from 40 interviews. Ben-Ami & Baker (2012) measured self-esteem and depression in a US sample. Verrocchio’s Italian collaboration (2014-2019) replicated the depression and anxiety findings in samples up to N=509. Each study added a piece of evidence; none aggregated the picture.
Miralles, Godoy and Hidalgo’s 2023 paper in Current Psychology is the aggregation. It is the most-cited recent systematic review of the long-term-consequences literature, and it organises the findings into a coherent seven-outcome cluster.
The research questions are narrow.
What is the state of empirical research on long-term emotional consequences of childhood PA exposure? Which adult outcomes show consistent associations across multiple studies? What instruments and methodological designs have been used? What gaps and limitations are present in the existing literature, and what should future research address?
The paper is independent of the main US/Australian PA-research network. All three authors are at the University of Murcia in Spain — a single-institution output drawing on a literature base dominated by US and Italian primary research. The independence matters because the systematic review is doing aggregator work on a literature its authors did not produce.
What They Did — Methods in Plain English
The methodology is a PRISMA-informed systematic review with narrative synthesis.
It is not a meta-analysis. Effect sizes are not pooled. The included studies are heterogeneous in instruments, samples, and designs — and the authors are explicit that this is the reason a meta-analysis was not attempted. A future updated review with effect-size pooling would be the natural next step in this literature.
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Source | Eleven electronic databases plus citation chaining |
| Databases | PsycInfo, MEDLINE, SCOPUS, Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane Library, DART-Europe, ProQuest, Wiley, TESEO (Spanish doctoral theses), Dialnet (Spanish-language scientific publications) |
| Search dates | February 2019; updated December 2019 |
| Languages | English and Spanish only |
| Reporting framework | PRISMA |
| Screening process | Dual-reviewer with consensus resolution; third reviewer for unresolved disagreements |
| Total identified | 13 included studies (12 journal articles + 1 doctoral thesis) |
| Aggregate adult sample | Approximately 4,200, dominantly US (Baker, Ben-Ami, Rowen-Emery) and Italian (Verrocchio, Bernet) |
| Synthesis | Narrative — no effect-size pooling |
| Quality appraisal | Narrative observations in discussion; no standardised instrument (CASP/ROBINS-I/NOS) |
| Publication | Current Psychology 42 (2023, online 2021) |
| Indexing | Scopus, PsycINFO |
The eleven-database coverage is the methodological strength. Most systematic reviews in this field run three to five databases; Miralles 2023 ran eleven. The inclusion of TESEO (Spanish doctoral theses) and Dialnet (Spanish-language scientific publications) captures Spanish-speaking research that English-only reviews would miss.
The thirteen-included-studies count is small relative to the volume of the empirical PA literature — but it reflects a tight inclusion criterion: the studies had to specifically measure long-term emotional consequences in adults whose parents had divorced. Cross-sectional studies of children and adolescents were excluded; theoretical and review pieces were excluded; studies of high-conflict divorce that did not isolate PA exposure were excluded.
The aggregate adult sample of approximately 4,200 makes this the largest systematic-review evidence base for adult outcomes of childhood PA exposure as of 2023.
The pairing with Verhaar 2022 matters. Verhaar, Matthewson and Bentley’s 2022 qualitative study of 20 adults with high BSQ scores is the single best-specified qualitative outcome study in the PA literature — but it is NOT included in Miralles 2023, because Miralles’s search closed December 2019 and Verhaar published April 2022. A future updated systematic review would include it. For LOE site purposes, the two papers should always be cited together as the outcome-evidence pair: Miralles for the systematic-review aggregation, Verhaar for the deepest single-study texture.
The seven-outcome cluster, drawn together
The figure below organises the seven canonical adult outcomes Miralles 2023 documents into a single visualisation, with the supporting study citations from the 13 included studies.
Figure 1 — The seven-outcome cluster from Miralles 2023. Across 13 included studies and approximately 4,200 adults, childhood exposure to parental alienating behaviours is associated in adulthood with a seven-outcome cluster:
(1) Depression and anxiety symptoms on the Beck Depression Inventory, BSI, and Beck Anxiety Inventory — Verrocchio 2015 and Bernet 2015 are the strongest quantitative anchors;
(2) Higher overall psychopathology risk across multiple symptom instruments;
(3) Lower self-esteem and lower self-sufficiency on the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale — Ben-Ami & Baker 2012 is the originating quantitative source;
(4) Higher alcohol and drug use rates on self-reported substance-use measures;
(5) Insecure attachment and parental-relationship difficulties on adult-attachment scales;
(6) Lower life quality and higher divorce rates on quality-of-life inventories;
(7) Feelings of loss, abandonment and guilt as the dominant qualitative themes — Baker 2005 and Godbout & Parent 2012 — plus reported intergenerational repetition of the alienating behaviours by partners or grandparents. The seven-outcome cluster is the headline of the systematic-review aggregation; the qualitative pair is Verhaar 2022.
Diagram by Love Over Exile, after Miralles, Godoy & Hidalgo (2023).
What They Found — The Seven-Outcome Cluster
1. Depression and anxiety
Adults reporting childhood PA exposure show elevated depression and anxiety scores across the included quantitative studies. Beck Depression Inventory scores, Brief Symptom Inventory subscale elevations, and Beck Anxiety Inventory scores are consistently higher in PA-exposed groups than in divorced-but-non-PA-exposed peers.
Several included studies (Bernet et al. 2015; Verrocchio et al. 2015; Verrocchio et al. 2019) report higher rates of meeting diagnostic thresholds for Major Depressive Disorder. The diagnostic instruments are mostly self-report screens rather than structured clinical interviews — a methodological constraint the review is explicit about.
The depression-and-anxiety pair is the most frequently reported outcome in the PA outcome literature. It is also the most directly measurable, which is why it dominates.
2. Higher overall psychopathology risk
Beyond the depression-anxiety pair, PA-exposed adults show elevated scores across general psychopathology screens — the BSI Global Severity Index, the Symptom Checklist-90, and similar broad-spectrum instruments.
This is not a separate clinical category. It is a higher base-rate of mental-health symptoms across the spectrum — sleep disturbance, somatic complaints, intrusive thoughts, interpersonal sensitivity. The pattern is consistent with the broader trauma-exposure literature.
3. Lower self-esteem and self-sufficiency
Multiple included studies — Baker & Chambers 2011; Baker & Ben-Ami 2011; Ben-Ami & Baker 2012; Baker & Verrocchio 2013; Verrocchio et al. 2015 — show lower Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale scores in PA-exposed adults compared to peers from divorced-but-non-alienated families.
The self-sufficiency finding traces particularly to Ben-Ami & Baker (2012) — the ability to function autonomously and meet one’s own needs is reduced in PA-exposed adults. This is the most often-quoted single finding in the long-term-effects literature.
4. Higher alcohol and drug use rates
Substance-use outcomes are elevated across multiple included studies. Alcohol-use frequency and drug-use frequency on self-report measures are higher in PA-exposed adults than in divorced-but-non-PA-exposed peers.
The mechanism is consistent with the broader trauma-and-substance-use literature: substance use as a coping mechanism for unresolved emotional content. The effect is detectable in the included samples but the magnitude varies study-by-study.
5. Insecure attachment and parental-relationship difficulties
PA-exposed adults show patterns of insecure attachment in adult relationships — both anxious and avoidant attachment styles are over-represented relative to peers from divorced-but-non-PA-exposed families.
Three texture points matter for non-specialist readers. The favoured-parent relationship often carries unprocessed conflict — the alienating parent is not a safe haven in adulthood, even though they were the only available attachment figure in childhood. Reconnection with the alienated parent is frequently complicated by mistrust, guilt, and ambivalence. And adult romantic relationships often replay the loyalty-conflict pattern.
The attachment finding is the longitudinal mechanism through which the other outcomes propagate.
6. Lower life quality and higher divorce rates
PA-exposed adults score lower on standard quality-of-life inventories — the WHO QOL-BREF and related instruments. They also show higher divorce rates than peers from divorced-but-non-PA-exposed families.
The higher divorce rate is the second-order consequence of the insecure-attachment finding. PA-exposed adults bring unresolved conflict, mistrust, and difficulty navigating loyalty into their own adult relationships — and the relationships fracture more often as a result.
This is one of the clearest indicators that childhood PA exposure has a structural effect on adult life that goes beyond symptom-level mental-health outcomes.
7. Loss, abandonment, guilt — and intergenerational repetition
The seventh outcome is the qualitative one — and arguably the most important for non-specialist readers.
Across the qualitative studies in the review (Baker 2005; Godbout & Parent 2012), the dominant emotional residues in adulthood are loss, abandonment, and guilt — not anger. Adults who were alienated as children carry the loss of the alienated parent, the abandonment by the favoured parent (who used them as a tool), and the guilt of having participated in the rejection.
The intergenerational repetition finding is the load-bearing one for understanding why this matters across generations. PA-exposed adults report that the same alienating behaviours recur — by their partner toward their children, or by their now-adult children’s grandparents (the now-elderly alienating parent). Verhaar 2022 documents a 50% generational-transmission rate in a different qualitative sample.
Why This Matters
A systematic review’s contribution is in the aggregation. Individual outcome studies establish that an effect exists; a systematic review establishes that the effect is consistent, replicated, and patterned across diverse samples and instruments.
Miralles 2023 does that work. It moves the long-term-effects question from “study X shows Y” to “across 13 studies and roughly 4,200 adults, the seven-outcome cluster is consistent, replicated, and dominant.”
The implications play out in three directions.
For the clinical conversation, Miralles 2023 is the citation that anchors any therapy referral, mental-health assessment, or expert-witness testimony about adult outcomes of childhood PA exposure. The seven-outcome cluster is the working clinical map.
For alienated parents wondering about their children’s future, the review is the answer to “what are the long-term risks?” The risks are real, replicated, and not fringe claims. They are also not certainties — the review documents elevated risk, not guaranteed outcome. Recovery is possible, particularly when relationships can repair and unresolved loss can be processed.
For policy work, the cluster is the empirical floor under arguments that PA exposure is a public-health concern. Depression, anxiety, substance use, lower life quality, and higher divorce rates are not private family matters — they have measurable population-level mental-health-system costs.
What This Means for You
If you are an alienated parent. Miralles 2023 is the research-anchored answer to “what are the long-term effects on my child?” The seven-outcome cluster is real and replicated. The risks are elevated, not certain. Recovery is possible — particularly when there is a path back to relationship in adulthood.
The intergenerational-repetition finding matters most for the long view. If your child does eventually wake up and the relationship can repair, you also break the generational chain.
If you are a therapist or mental-health practitioner. Miralles 2023 is the citation that anchors clinical assessment of adult clients with childhood PA history. The seven-outcome cluster covers the full presentation — depression and anxiety, low self-esteem, substance use, insecure attachment, life-quality issues, and the dominant qualitative themes of loss and guilt.
Pair the citation with Verhaar 2022 for the qualitative texture and Baker (2007) for the behavioural-strategy framework that produced the outcomes.
If you are an adult survivor of childhood PA. The seven-outcome cluster may name what you are experiencing. The framing is research-anchored, not pathologising — these are documented patterns, not personal failings. Recovery pathways exist. The first step is naming the pattern; subsequent steps include trauma-informed therapy, attachment-repair work, and where possible reconnection with the alienated parent.
The intergenerational-repetition finding is also the warning. If you are now a parent yourself, the patterns from your own childhood can reappear in your relationships — but knowing the pattern is the first step to changing it.
If you are a family-court professional or policy worker. The seven-outcome cluster is the citation for any submission that needs to establish that childhood PA exposure has measurable, replicated, long-term consequences. It is appropriate for citation in expert-witness reports, custody-evaluation summaries, and policy submissions on family-court reform.
Limitations — What the Review Doesn’t Tell Us
Three honest limitations.
First, narrative synthesis only — no pooled effect sizes. The review documents that the seven-outcome cluster is consistently reported across the 13 included studies, but it does not aggregate effect-size magnitudes. A future meta-analytic update would be the natural next step.
Second, retrospective adult samples. Every included study is retrospective — adults look back on childhood. Causation cannot be established. Some adult outcomes may be produced by high-conflict divorce more broadly, by family-level genetic loadings for depression and anxiety, or by other shared environmental factors. What the review does establish is that the cluster is a consistent correlational pattern.
Third, dominantly US and Italian samples. The 13 studies are dominated by US (Baker, Ben-Ami, Rowen-Emery) and Italian (Verrocchio, Bernet) primary research. One Canadian qualitative study. NO UK, French, German, Latin American, Asian, African, or Australian primary studies. Generalisation outside the US-Italian Global North is not directly supported.
Several methodological details are flagged for verification when full-text access becomes available — the exact Boolean search string, exact Ns per included study, whether a formal quality-appraisal tool was applied at full-text stage, and the specific PRISMA flow-diagram counts. The directional findings (13 studies, ~4,200 adults, seven-outcome cluster) are robust across all open-access summaries; confidence in any specific sub-analysis requires the full paper.
The published cut-off date matters too. Miralles’s search closed December 2019. Verhaar 2022 is therefore NOT among the 13 included studies. A future updated systematic review would include Verhaar 2022, and the two papers should be cited together as the outcome-evidence pair: Miralles for the systematic-review aggregation, Verhaar for the deepest single-study qualitative texture.
None of these limitations is a reason to discard the paper. They are reasons to cite it precisely — Miralles, Godoy & Hidalgo (2023) for the systematic-review aggregation; pair with Verhaar 2022 for the single-study qualitative texture; pair with Baker (2007) for the behavioural-strategy framework. The aim of a good article about a paper is to leave the reader better able to cite it well. That is the aim of this one.
Frequently asked questions
What are the long-term effects of parental alienation on children?
Miralles, Godoy & Hidalgo (2023) systematically reviewed 13 studies of approximately 4,200 adults and identified a seven-outcome cluster: higher depression and anxiety symptoms, higher overall psychopathology risk, lower self-esteem and self-sufficiency, higher alcohol and drug use, insecure attachment and parental-relationship difficulties, lower life quality and higher divorce rates, and feelings of loss, abandonment and guilt — plus intergenerational repetition of the alienating behaviours.
What does the Miralles 2023 systematic review actually do?
It searched eleven electronic databases (PsycInfo, MEDLINE, SCOPUS, Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane, DART-Europe, ProQuest, Wiley, TESEO, Dialnet) plus citation chaining for empirical studies of long-term emotional consequences of childhood parental-alienation exposure in adult children of divorced parents. After dual-reviewer screening, 13 studies met inclusion criteria — 12 journal articles plus one doctoral thesis. The synthesis is narrative; no effect sizes are pooled. PRISMA reporting is followed.
Is Miralles 2023 a meta-analysis?
No. It is a systematic review with narrative synthesis. It identifies, screens, and summarises 13 studies meeting inclusion criteria, but it does not pool effect sizes or compute aggregated odds ratios. The included studies are heterogeneous in instrument, sample, and design, which the authors are explicit is the reason a meta-analysis was not attempted. A future updated review with effect-size pooling would be the natural next step.
How does Miralles 2023 relate to Verhaar 2022?
Miralles 2023 is the systematic review across studies; Verhaar, Matthewson & Bentley (2022) is the most-cited single qualitative study of adult outcomes. Together they form the outcome-evidence pair. Verhaar 2022 is NOT among the 13 included studies in Miralles — Miralles's search closed December 2019, and Verhaar published April 2022. A future updated review would include it. The two papers report convergent qualitative themes (depression, anxiety, attachment, suicidal ideation, generational transmission).
Does the review prove parental alienation causes these outcomes?
No. The review documents association in retrospective adult samples, not causation. Every included study is retrospective — adults look back on childhood. The review cannot rule out that some adult outcomes are produced by high-conflict divorce more broadly, by family-level genetic loadings for depression and anxiety, or by other shared environmental factors. What it does establish is that the seven-outcome cluster is a consistent, replicated correlational pattern across diverse instruments and samples.
Which countries did the included studies cover?
The 13 studies are dominantly US and Italian. US primary research includes Baker, Ben-Ami, and Rowen-Emery samples. Italian primary research is the Verrocchio-Bernet collaboration set. One Canadian qualitative study (Godbout & Parent 2012, Québec). NO UK, German, French, Latin American, Asian, African, or Australian primary studies in the included set. Generalisation outside the US-Italian Global North is not directly supported by this review.
What instruments did the included studies use?
Mixed. Depression: Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) depression subscale. Anxiety: Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), BSI anxiety subscale, trait-anxiety scales. Self-esteem: Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Attachment: Adult Attachment Scale and similar self-report measures. Substance use: self-reported alcohol and drug-use frequency. Most are validated self-report screens rather than structured clinical interviews. Diagnostic-grade DSM/ICD-aligned interviews are not the dominant assessment.
Is this paper peer-reviewed?
Yes. *Current Psychology* is a Springer Nature peer-reviewed journal indexed in Scopus and PsycINFO. The paper appeared online 30 November 2021 and in print as Volume 42 in October 2023. The 2023 print volume is the canonical citation. DOI: 10.1007/s12144-021-02537-2.
What are the main limitations?
Three to name plainly. First, narrative synthesis only — no pooled effect sizes. Second, dominantly retrospective self-report data — no controlled longitudinal designs in the included set, so causation cannot be established. Third, dominantly US and Italian samples — no UK, French, German, Latin American, Asian, African, or Australian primary studies, so generalisation outside the Global North English-and-Italian-speaking literature is not directly supported.
What does this mean for an alienated parent?
If you are wondering what the long-term mental-health risks are for your child as they grow up, Miralles 2023 is the research-anchored answer. The seven-outcome cluster is real, replicated, and not a fringe claim. It is also not a guarantee — the review documents elevated risk, not certainty. Recovery is possible, particularly when a relationship can repair and the unresolved loss can be processed. The clinical pathway is the same one that responds to other forms of post-separation childhood trauma.
Was Verhaar 2022 included in this review?
No. Miralles's literature search closed in December 2019; Verhaar, Matthewson & Bentley published in April 2022, more than two years after the cut-off. A future updated systematic review would include Verhaar 2022 in the included-studies set. The two papers should be cited together as the outcome-evidence pair: Miralles for the systematic-review aggregation, Verhaar for the single best-specified qualitative study.
References
- Miralles, P., Godoy, C., & Hidalgo, M. D. (2023). Long-term emotional consequences of parental alienation exposure in children of divorced parents: A systematic review . Current Psychology , 42 , 12055-12069. 10.1007/s12144-021-02537-2 · Primary study summarised on this page.
- Verhaar, S., Matthewson, M. L., & Bentley, C. (2022). The impact of parental alienating behaviours on the mental health of adults alienated in childhood: A qualitative analysis . Children, 9(4), 475. Source
- Baker, A. J. L. (2007). Adult Children of Parental Alienation Syndrome: Breaking the Ties That Bind . W. W. Norton & Company. Source
- Baker, A. J. L. (2005). The long-term effects of parental alienation on adult children: A qualitative research study . American Journal of Family Therapy, 33(4), 289-302. Source
- Ben-Ami, N., & Baker, A. J. L. (2012). The long-term correlates of childhood exposure to parental alienation on adult self-sufficiency and well-being . American Journal of Family Therapy, 40(2), 169-183. Source
- Verrocchio, M. C., Baker, A. J. L., & Marchetti, D. (2018). Adult report of childhood exposure to parental alienation at different developmental time periods . Journal of Family Therapy, 40(4), 602-618. Source
- Baker, A. J. L., & Chambers, J. (2011). Adult recall of childhood exposure to parental conflict: Unpacking the black box of parental alienation . Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 52(1), 55-76. Source
- Harman, J. J., Kruk, E., & Hines, D. A. (2018). Parental alienating behaviors: An unacknowledged form of family violence . Psychological Bulletin, 144(12), 1275-1299. Source
- Rowen, J., & Emery, R. E. (2019). Children's view of parental denigration: Is parental alienation a form of psychological maltreatment? . Journal of Family Psychology, 33(8), 990-1000. Source
See the full curated bibliography on the research page.
How to cite this summary
APA 7th edition
Smith, M. (2026). The Long-term Effects of Parental Alienation on Children: Miralles 2023 Systematic Review [Summary of Miralles, P., Godoy, C., & Hidalgo, M. D. (2023)]. Love Over Exile. https://loveoverexile.com/parental-alienation-research/miralles-2023-long-term-consequences/
When citing the underlying research, please cite the primary study (entry 1 above) directly.
About the researchers
Long-term emotional consequences of parental alienation exposure in children of divorced parents: A systematic review (2023) was authored by 3 researchers:
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Paloma Miralles, PhD · Lead author and corresponding author
International School of Doctoral Studies, University of Murcia, Spain
Doctor of Psychology, University of Murcia. The systematic review is Miralles's principal published contribution to the parental-alienation literature, drawn from her doctoral programme work on dysfunctional parental dynamics in high-conflict and divorce contexts. The review is independent of the main US/Australian PA-research network — a single-institution Spanish output drawing on a literature base dominated by US and Italian primary research.
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Carmen Godoy, PhD · Co-author, clinical-psychology framing
Department of Personality, Evaluation and Psychological Treatment, University of Murcia, Spain
Brings the clinical-psychology framing to the review — depression and anxiety symptom assessment, clinical-significance interpretation of self-report screening instruments, and the interpretation of Major Depressive Disorder threshold findings across the included studies.
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María Dolores Hidalgo, PhD · Co-author, methodology and psychometrics
Department of Basic Psychology and Methodology, University of Murcia, Spain
Professor in psychometrics and research methodology. Brings the methodology and psychometrics expertise to the review — instrument-quality appraisal and the review-methodology design. Hidalgo's prior work on measurement invariance and psychometric assessment underpins the careful scrutiny of the heterogeneous instruments used across the 13 included studies.
