Judges' Reliance on Psychological, Sociological, and Legal Variables in Contested Custody Decisions

Abstract

Judges' use of case specific data in determining child custody arrangements was examined. Information collected on 60 contested initial disposition or disposition modification cases was used to model judicial decision-making. The sample was not representative of the full population of divorcing families in that it was disproportionately comprised of high conflict cases in which there were few unequivocally safe placement options. Our results indicated that judges generally followed the legal statutes, attended to the nature of family relationships, and did not rely on a general preference for one parent. Moreover, they demonstrated a strong reliance on the impressions and recommendations of Guardian Ad Litcm personnel. However, some notably important case information was not weighted heavily in judges' decisions. In particular, information regarding the degree of parental conflict, consistently found to be very important to post-divorce child adjustment, did not appear to be used by judges in these cases. Moreover, neither parental substance abuse nor a history of child abduction by a parent influenced decision-making. Implications of these findings are discussed.