Abstract
Parental Alienation (PA) is a modality of psychological violence identifiable in the context of child custody disputes in courts of law - institution that provides a rich source of research data. To analyze the national and international literature on PA of studies conducted with court documents, this study consists of a systematic review, performed according to the PRISMA guidelines, on the Scopus, PsycNET, PubMed, and Scielo databases, as well as in the library of the Laboratory of Analysis and Prevention of Violence (LAPREV/UFSCar), for articles including the keyword “parental alienation” and its respective Portuguese translation. The search provided six samples: five articles selected from the databases (three Brazilian, one Canadian, and one Italian) and a Brazilian book from the lab collection. Most judicial sentences analyzed in the selected studies corroborate the psychological reports conclusions. However, the psychological evaluation of alleged PA cases of Brazilian and Italian reports showed concerning deficiencies, with emphasis on biased opinions, lack of adequate standards, poorly planned assessments, and questionable theoretical background. These findings stress the urgent need to develop strategies for improving psychological assessments to strengthen the protection and guaranteeing the rights of children involved in marital litigation.
Keywords:
Parental Alienation; Forensic Psychology; Psychological Assessment