Biased reporting by parents undergoing child custody evaluations.
This study tested the hypothesis that a parent undergoing a child custody evaluation will bias his or her report of the children's symptoms in a direction that supports the parent's aim in the litigation. Parents in 196 court-ordered child custody evaluations rated their children using the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist. Additional families undergoing evaluations of visitation disputes (N = 34) and custody/visitation disputes complicated by sexual abuse allegations (N = 15) were used as comparison groups to test alternative explanations of the findings. Results were strongly supportive of the hypothesis that parental bias was present and quantifiable.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor 48109-0390.
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Guyer
D000293:Adolescent; D015982:Bias; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D002655:Child Custody / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005104:Expert Testimony / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics