Parent-to-child intergenerational influence of perceived alienation towards parents: Mediation of children’s life-events, and moderation of children's gender and left-behind status

Background Parent-child bond especially the alienation towards parents, significantly influences an individual’s lifetime mental health. This study, grounded in intergenerational transmission theory, aims to reveal the influence of less-attended parents’ perceived alienation towards parents on children's to-parent alienation and potential mediator and moderator. Methods 782 Chinese parent-child pairs were surveyed using the Inventory of Alienation towards Parents and the Adolescent Self-Rating Life-events Checklist. Results Parents' to-parent and to-child alienation as well as children's to-mother and to-father alienation were moderately to highly correlated (r = 0.50–0.91), while parents and children's alienation were mildly correlated (r = 0.14–0.23). Mother’s to-parent alienation predicted children's to-mother alienation, which was fully mediated by mother’s to-child alienation and children's life-events. Father’s to-mother alienation directly predicted children's to-father alienation, while father’s to-father alienation indirectly predicted children's to-father alienation through children’s life-events. Girls had a stronger correlation between parent’s to-mother and to-father alienation. The correlation between the father’s to-mother and to-father alienation was stronger when the father was leaving. Conclusions The findings are among the first to reveal the prediction of parents' perceived alienation on children's alienation, with stronger effect from mother and same-gender parent. The intergenerational transmission of perceived alienation is mediated by children’s life-events and moderated by children's gender and left-behind status. To interrupt the transmission of perceived alienation between generations, more attention should be paid to parents' perceived alienation first, while children’s status (e.g., life-events and left-behind status) could also be considered to develop psychological interventions in schools and families.