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Harman, Kruk & Hines (2018) — Parental Alienating Behaviors: An Unacknowledged Form of Family Violence

TL;DR. Meta-analysis published in Psychological Bulletin (APA flagship review journal) establishing parental alienating behaviors (PABs) as a recognized form of family violence with measurable harm to children. Currently the strongest single academic citation for treating PA as a clinical reality in client-facing content; supersedes the contested "Parental Alienation Syndrome" framing by reframing harm at the behavior level rather than the syndrome level.

Citation. Harman, J. J., Kruk, E., & Hines, D. A. (2018). Parental Alienating Behaviors: An Unacknowledged Form of Family Violence. Psychological Bulletin, 144(12), 1275–1299. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000175

DOI. 10.1037/bul0000175

Citation strength. Landmark — peer-reviewed in APA's flagship review journal, the highest tier in psychology meta-analysis publishing.

Why this matters

  1. Peer-reviewed in APA's flagship review journal. Top citation strength in psychology — review work in Psychological Bulletin meets the highest methodological bar in the field.
  2. Reframes PA as behaviors, not as a syndrome. This circumvents the Daubert v. Merrell Dow (1993, 509 U.S. 579) admissibility friction that "Parental Alienation Syndrome" carries in US federal courts and federal-rules-following state courts.
  3. Aligns PA with the family-violence literature. This opens institutional recognition pathways — domestic-violence shelters, child-protection services, criminal codes, ECHR Art. 8 jurisprudence — that the "syndrome" framing did not access.
  4. Already cited in family-court judgments. Including the UK Re C (Parental Alienation: Instruction of Expert) [2023] EWHC 345 (Fam) ruling on expert testimony in PA cases.

How to use in citing content

Lead citation when:

  • Establishing PA's clinical legitimacy (use this instead of PAS framing).
  • Arguing for institutional recognition of PA harms (shelters, social services, criminal courts).
  • Pairing with DSM-5 V995.51 (Child Psychological Abuse) and WHO ICD-11 QE52 for the "international codification triple."

Avoid:

  • Citing as if it were case law — it is research, not legally binding precedent.
  • Treating it as the only anchor — pair with at least one of {DSM-5 V995.51, ICD-11 QE52} when invoking clinical authority.
  • Quoting holdings without verifying the pinpoint — the original paper is 25 pages; cite specific findings.
  • core-concepts/parental-alienating-behaviors.md (seed)
  • clinical/dsm5-v99551.md (seed — DSM-5 Child Psychological Abuse code)
  • clinical/icd11-qe52.md (seed — WHO ICD-11 Caregiver-Child Relationship Problem)
  • case-law/united-kingdom/re-c-2023.md (seed — UK High Court decision citing this work)
  • core-concepts/family-violence-frame.md (seed)
Post # Title Live URL
49 What Alienating Parents Tell New Partners — The Propaganda Architecture antialienate.com/blog/what-alienating-parents-tell-new-partners
51 Documenting Parental Alienation for Court — The Comprehensive Framework antialienate.com/blog/documenting-parental-alienation-for-court
52 How to Document PA for Court — The Daily Tactical Checklist antialienate.com/blog/documenting-alienation-for-court
54 Spotting Parental Alienation — The Early Warning Signs Most Parents Miss Until It's Late antialienate.com/blog/spotting-parental-alienation-early-warning-signs
55 Recognizing Parental Alienation — The Key Signs That Distinguish It From Everything Else antialienate.com/blog/recognizing-parental-alienation-key-signs

(Updated as posts cite this work. Standing rule: every repo entry must link back to the original AntiAlienate blog posts that reference it.)

Open research questions

  • Is there 2024–2026 follow-up work by the same authors? Verify any methodological refinements or replications.
  • Has the meta-analysis been cited in any more recent ECHR or Belgian Cour de cassation rulings? Worth a periodic search.
  • Does the family-violence framing of PA shift child-protection-services intake practices in any documented jurisdiction? Empirical follow-up.
  • Publisher record: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-42539-001
  • Lead author affiliation: Colorado State University (Jennifer J. Harman)
  • Companion popular-press essays by Harman: Bigger Than Boys & Girls + Family Sciences Review

Last reviewed: 2026-05-15 by Alan Markson. License: CC BY 4.0. Originally published at antialienate.com.