Strategies to address clinical bias in the child custody evaluation process

Journal of Child Custody

Volumn 3, Issue 2, 2006, Pages 45-69

  Robb, Aaron ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON   (United States)

Author keywords

Bias; Child custody evaluation; Forensic practice

Indexed keywords

EID: 33746491625     PISSN: 15379418     EISSN: 1537940X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1300/J190v03n02_03     Document Type: Review

References (65)

1. Abrams, T. A. (1988). The influence of family disruption on clinician bias and the assessment of children. Journal of Divorce, 11(3/4), 189-205.
2. Abramson, M. (1996). Reflections on knowing oneself ethically: Toward a working framework for social work practice. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Human Services, 77, 195-210.
3. Ackerman, M. J. & Ackerman, M. C. (1997). Custody evaluation practices: A survey of experienced professionals (Revisited). Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 28, 137-145.
4. Agans, R. P. & Shaffer, L. S. (1994). The hindsight bias: The role of the availability heuristic and perceived risk. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 15(4), 439-449.
5. American Psychological Association (1993). Record keeping guidelines. Washington: Author.
6. Arkes, H. R. (1981). Impediments to accurate clinical judgment and possible ways to minimize their impact. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 49(3), 323-330.
7. Ashton, R. H. & Kennedy, J. (2002). Eliminating recency with self-review: The case of auditors' "Going Concern" judgments. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 15, 221-231.
8. Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (1994). Association of Family and Conciliation Courts Model Standards of Practice for Child Custody Evaluation. Family and Conciliation Courts Review, 32, 504-513.
9. Austin, G. W., Jaffe, P. & Friedman, B. (1994). Custody and access assessors: Effects of background and experience on analogue case judgment. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 26, 463-475.
10. Austin, W. G. & Kirkpatrick, H. D. (2004). The investigation component in forensic mental health evaluations: Considerations for parenting time assessments. Journal of Child Custody, 1(2), 23-46.
11. Bailenson, J. N. & Rips, L. J. (1996). Information reasoning and burden of proof. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 10, S3-S16.
12. Bagby, R. M., Nicholson, R. A., Buis, T., Radovanovic, H. & Fidler, B. J. (1999). Defensive responding on the MMPI-2 in family custody and access cases. Psychological Assessment, 11, 24-28.
13. Bathurst, K., Gottfried, A. W. & Gottfried, A. E. (1997). Normative data for the MMPI-2 in child custody litigation. Psychological Assessment, 9, 205-211.
14. Beattie, J. & Barron, J. (1988). Confirmation and matching biases in hypothesis testing. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 40, 269-297.
15. Bodenhausen, G. V., Gabriel, S. & Lineberger, M. (2000). Sadness and susceptibility to judgment bias: The case for anchoring. Psychological Science, 11, 320-323.
16. Borum, R., Otto, R. & Golding, S. (1993). Improved clinical judgment and decision making in forensic evaluation. Journal of Psychiatry and Law, 21(1), 35-76.
17. Bow, J. N. Quinnell, F. A. (2001). Psychologists current practices and procedures in child custody evaluations: Five years after APA guidelines. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 32, 261-268.
18. Bow, J. N., Quinnell, F. A., Zaroff, M. & Assemany, A. (2002). Assessment of sexual abuse allegations in child custody cases. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 33(6), 566-575.
19. Brodzinsky, D. M. (1993). On the use and misuse of psychological tests in child custody evaluations. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 24, 213-219.
20. Carroll, R. T. (2003). The Skeptic's Dictionary. Indianapolis: IN. Wiley Publishing, Inc.
21. Chen, Y. (2004). Age differences in correction of context-induced biases: Source monitoring and timing of accountability. Aging, Neuropsychology and Cognition, 11(1), 58-67.
22. Cohen, L. H., Sargent, M. M. Sechrest, L. B. (1986). Use of psychotherapy research by professional psychologists. American Psychologist, 41(2), 198-206.
23. Crano, W. D. (1977). Primacy versus recency in retention of information and opinion exchange. The Journal of Social Psychology, 101, 87-96.
24. Davies, M. F. (2003). Confirmatory bias in the evaluation of personality descriptions: Positive test strategies and output interference. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(4), 744-746.
25. Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 113 S. Ct. 2786 (1993).
26. Einhorn, H. J. & Hogarth, R. M. (1978). Confidence in judgment; Persistence of the illusion of validity. Psychological Review, 85, 395-416.
27. Elaad, E. (2003). Effects of feedback on the overestimated capacity to detect lies and the underestimated ability to tell lies. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 17, 349-363.
28. Epstein, W. M. (1990). Confirmational response bias among social work journals. Science Technology and Human Values, 15, 9-38.
29. Martindale, D. (in press). Understanding bias and prejudice in custody evaluations. The Matrimonial Strategist.
30. Martindale, D. (2005). Confirmatory bias and confirmatory distortion. Journal of Child Custody, 2(1/2), 31-48.
31. McDonald, M. (1998). The myth of epidemic false allegations of sexual abuse in divorce cases. Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association, 32, 12-19.
32. Mirriam-Webster Online. (n.d.). Retrieved August 1, 2002, from http://www.m-w.com/
33. Morrow, K. A. & Deidan, C. T. (1992). Bias in the counseling process: How to recognize and avoid it. Journal of Counseling and Development, 70, 571-577.
34. Munro, E. (1999). Common errors of reasoning in child protection work. Child Abuse & Neglect, 23(8), 745-758.
35. National Association of Social Workers (1999). Code of Ethics. Washington: Author.
36. Nagel, T. (1989). The View from Nowhere. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
37. Neville, H. A., Heppner, M. J., Louie, C. E., Thompson, C. E., Brooks, L. Baker, C. E. (1996). The impact of multicultural training on white racial identity attitudes and therapy competencies. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 27(1), 83-89.
38. Nickerson, R. S. (1998). Confirmation bias: A ubiquitous phenomenon in many guises. Review of General Psychology, 2, 175-220.
39. Nicol-Maveyraud, J. (2003). Mind over money. The Psychologist, 16(5), 240-242.
40. Otto, R. (1989). Bias and expert testimony of mental health professionals in adversarial proceedings: A preliminary investigation. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 7(2), 267-273.
41. Pinderhughes, E. (1989). Understanding race, ethnicity and power: The key to efficacy in clinical practice. New York: The Free Press.
42. Poole, D. A. & Lamb, M. E. (1998). Investigative interviews of children. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association
43. Robinson, E. H. (1994). Critical issues in counselor education: Mentors, models, and money. Counselor Education and Supervision, 33, 339-343.
44. Rosen, G. M. & Phillips, W. R. (2004). A cautionary lesson from simulated patients. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry & Law, 32, 132-133.
45. Rosenhan, D. L. (1973). On being sane in insane places. Science, 179, 250-258.
46. Sagi, A. & Dvir, R. (1993). Value biases of social workers in custody disputes. Children and Youth Services Review, 15, 27-42.
47. Sbraga, T. P. & O'Donohue, W. (2003). Post hoc reasoning in possible cases of child sexual abuse: Symptoms of inconclusive origins. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10, 320-334.
48. Schwartz, W. B., Gorry, G. A., Kassier, J. P. & Essig, A. (1973). Decision analysis and clinical judgment. American Journal of Medicine, 55, 459-472.
49. Shuman, D. W. (2002). The role of mental health experts in custody decisions: Science, psychological tests, and clinical judgment. Family Law Quarterly, 36, 135-162.
50. Shuman, D. W. & Greenberg, S. A. (2003). The expert witness, the adversary system and the voice of reason: Reconciling impartiality and advocacy. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 34(3), 219-224.
51. Sprenkle, D. H. & Moon, S. M. (1996). Toward pluralism in family therapy research. In D. H. Sprenkle & S. M. Moon (Eds.), Research methods in family therapy (pp. 3-19). New York: Guilford Press.
52. Stahl, P. M. (1994). Conducting child custody evaluations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
53. Stevens, G. (1980). Bias in attributions of positive and negative behavior in children by school psychologists, parents, and teachers. Perceptual & Motor Skills, 50(3), 1283-1290.
54. Sue, D. W. & Sue, D. (1990). Counseling the culturally different (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
55. Taylor, S. E. (1982). The availability bias in social perception and interaction. In D. Kahneman, P. Slovic & A. Tversky (Eds.), Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases (pp. 190-200). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge Press.
56. Teversky, A. & Kahneman, D. (1982a). Causal schemas in judgments under uncertainty. In D. Kahneman, P. Slovic & A. Tversky (Eds.), Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases (pp. 117-128). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge Press.
57. Teversky, A. & Kahneman, D. (1982b). Evidential impact of base rates. In D. Kahneman, P. Slovic & A. Tversky (Eds.), Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases (pp. 153-160). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge Press.
58. Thoennes, N. & Tjaden, P.G. (1990). The extent, nature, and validity of sexual abuse allegations in custody/divorce disputes. Child Abuse & Neglect, 14, 153-161.
59. Tippins, T. M. & Wittmann, J. P. (2005). Empirical and ethical problems with custody recommendations. Family Court Review, 43, 193-222.
60. Trocme, N. & Bala, N. (2005). False allegations of abuse and neglect when parents separate. Child Abuse and Neglect, 29, 1333-1345.
61. Turk, D. C. & Slovey, P. (1986). Clinical information processing: Bias inoculation. In R. E. Ingram (Ed.), Information processing approaches to clinical psychology. Orlando, FL: Academic Press, Inc.
62. Vallee-Tourangeau, F., Beynon, D. M. & James, S. A. (2000). The role of alternative hypotheses in the integration of evidence that disconfirms an acquired belief. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 12, 107-129.
63. Vrij, A. (2001). Detecting lies and deceit: The psychology of lying and the implications for professional practice. Chichester, UK: Wiley.
64. Vrij, A. (2004). Why professionals fail to catch liars and how they can improve. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 9, 151-181.
65. Warshak, R. (1996). Gender bias in child custody decisions. Family & Conciliation Courts Review, 34, 396-409.