An archival study of decision-making in child custody disputes.
Investigation files and court records of 282 disputed child-custody cases (San Diego, 1982) were coded and analyzed to determine predictors of judicial decision. Log-linear analysis of physical custody decisions as a function of factors contained in the files suggested that three categories of factors (mother, father, and child) were linked causally to a counselor's recommendation, which was linked subsequently to the judge's decision. Judicial decisions could be predicted accurately by a model that took very few factors into account. Only two factors directly affected the judge; counselor-recommendation and child preference. The major factor that influenced decisions was counselor recommendation (60% of the cases); cases that lacked this recommendation were predicted by an inferential measure of the child's preference (15% of the cases).
Kunin
C C
CC
University of California, San Diego, La Jolla 92093.
Ebbesen
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EB
Konecni
V J
VJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002140:California; D002648:Child; D002655:Child Custody / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D002669:Child Welfare; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007603:Jurisprudence; D008297:Male; D011996:Records; D014481:United States