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Dissertation
Predictors of child custody mediators' style
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Medical College of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann University; Villanova University, School of Law
May 2001
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00002726
Abstract
The present study investigated the effects of mental health professionals' and lawyers' styles of mediation in their approach to various child custody mediation scenarios. Child custody mediators were sampled from the membership of the Academy of Family Mediators (N = 400) and the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (N = 1,360). Two hundred fifty-one individuals comprised the final sample (153 women and 96 men, mean age = 49.99). Respondents rated how closely their style of mediation was to the facilitative or evaluative styles. The questionnaires also contained eight vignettes that depicted child custody mediation scenarios. The vignettes involved the presentation of 3 factors in a 2 x 2 x 2 within-subjects design where they were counterbalanced for order. The three variables each with two levels that were manipulated in the vignettes were as follows: parental amicability (amicable or not amicable), parental problem solving skills (good or poor), and mediator style (facilitative or evaluative). For each vignette respondents rated the appropriateness of the mediation technique, the likelihood of settlement, and the appropriateness of the technique if the dispute was concerning finances. A repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance yielded a significant main effect for each of the variables: amicability, problem solving skills, and mediation style. Additionally, eight Multivariate Analyses of Variance were conducted. Results indicated that facilitative mediators believed that evaluative mediation is a less appropriate technique in both a child custody or financial dispute than evaluative or mixed mediators regardless of the disputant characteristics (p < .001). Further, compared to facilitative evaluators, evaluative mediators believed that there is less likelihood of settlement when the disputants are not amicable, when they have poor problem solving skills, and when a facilitative style is used ( p < .01). Results also found that, compared to mental health professionals, lawyers believed that a facilitative approach is more appropriate in a financial dispute when the parties are amicable and have good problem solving skills, are amicable and have poor problem solving skills, and are not amicable and have good problem solving skills (p < .05). These results serve as a preliminary examination of the disparate styles of mediation and should provide direction for the development of more effective mediation training and of consumer education strategies.
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Details
- Title
- Predictors of child custody mediators' style
- Creators
- Lori Jane Butts
- Awarding Institution
- Medical College of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann University; Villanova University, School of Law
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Publisher
- Medical College of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann University; Villanova University, School of Law; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Number of pages
- iv, 103 pages
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Clinical and Health Psychology [Historical]; Medical College of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann University (1993-1996, 1998-2002); College of Nursing and Health Professions (2000-2002)
- Other Identifier
- 991021888807104721