Psychology Today | 25.09.2026 01:34
How common are cutoffs nowadays? In a 2025 YouGov poll of 4,395 U.S. adults, a whopping 38 percent were currently estranged from at least one family member. Sibling estrangement is the most common, with a prevalence of 24 percent, but 16 percent indicated a parent, 10 percent a child, 9 percent a grandparent, and 6 percent a grandchild (YouGov, 2025). Cornell's national survey found 27 percent of US adults had cut off contact with a relative, but estrangement from fathers is four times more common than from mothers—26 percent versus 6 percent in a nationally representative data set (Pillemer 2020). This striking statistic might reflect other dynamics not discussed here, such as parental alienation.
