Annotated Bibliography
Barnwell, A. (2024).
Family Estrangement and the Unseen Work of Not Doing Family. Sociology, 58(6), 1416-1431. https://doi.org/10.1177/00380385241247252
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Quantitative study of estranged adults concluded that being estranged often includes a lot of unseen work, e.g. navigating holidays, family events, disclosure or lack of family situation . Estranged adults speak to wanting social recognition and support around estrangement, not just pressure to reconcile.
Kumari, V. (2020).
Emotional abuse and neglect: time to focus on prevention and mental health consequences. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 217, 597-599. doi: 10.1192/bjp.2020.154
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Emotional neglect is more prevalent (36% of population self-reports) compared to physical abuse, (18%), sexual abuse (8-18%) or physical neglect (16%). Overt signs of emotional abuse include constant swearing, yelling, criticism or humiliation of a child. Covert signs include unrealistic expectations, unreasonable demands on the child, or unfair treatment because of certain characteristics. Reported abuse by informers rates are much lower than self-reported. Commonly reported effects of childhood emotional abuse in adulthood include feelings of hopelessness, poor
self-esteem, reduced sense of social support, poor satisfaction with life, neurobiological changes in stress response systems, structural and functional brain deficits, and a heightened risk of developing psychiatric disorders.
To be reviewed
Bernet, W., Gregory, N., Rohner, R.P., & Reay, K.M. (2020).
Measuring the Difference Between Parental Alienation and Parental Estrangement: The PARQ-Gap. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 65 (4), 1225-1234. https://doi.org/10.1111/1556-4029.14300
Blake, L. (2017).
Parents and Children Who Are Estranged in Adulthood: A Review and Discussion of the Literature. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 9 (4), 521-536. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12216
Fares-Otero, N.E., Carranza-Neira, J., Womersley, J.S., Stegemann,A., Schalinski, I., Wieta, E., Spies, G. & Seedat, S. (2025).
Child maltreatment and resilience in adulthood: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychological Medicine, 55, e163,1–27. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291725001205


