Overview
- Discusses the past and current state of science regarding child custody evaluations with a focus on the construct of the best interest of the child
- Proposes a preliminary model (the Egregious/Promotive Factors Model) in order to conduct improved child custody evaluations Identifies and reviews psychological assessments that can reliably measure risk and promotive factors to support the Egregious/Promotive Factors Model ?
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Keywords
- Child abuse
- Child custody evaluations
- Custody arrangement controversies
- Excessive interparental conflict
- Father's rights movement
- Parent mental health problems
- Parent school involvement
- Parent-child relationships
- Parenting alliance measure
- Parenting relationship questionnaire
- Parenting skills
- Same sex custody
- The child behavior
- The parenting stress index
Table of contents (8 chapters)
Reviews
"The book Improving the Quality of Child Custody Evaluations: A Systematic Model by Tolle and O’Donohue provides a useful summary of what relevant factors to consider, based on empirical work on the effects of divorce on children, and how relevant and valid data can be obtained to inform a decision, for example, with the help of psychological tests...
An interesting part of the book is its review of empirical work on the effects of divorce: Tolle and O’Donohue discuss its effects on children’s psychological well-being, family well-being, socioeconomic well-being, self-concept, social competence, and physical health problems. However, there is a lack of critical discussion of the causal inferences that can be drawn from such work. Several alternative explanations usually are pertinent, such as genetic ones (Kennair, 2003; Paris, 2000).
The extensive discussions of psychometric properties of various instruments such as psychological tests are probably useful to a practitioner, but they tend to be somewhat dull reading. The authors stress the importance of impression management in assessments for custody evaluations, in which much tends to be at stake for the parents. This is a very difficult problem in many applications of psychometric methods (Griffith & Peterson, 2006)...
This book should be a useful reference to psychologists working on custody cases. The reviews of research on effects of divorce on children and on the validity of methods used in custody assessments are useful. Furthermore, there is clearly a need for structuringinformation in such cases and integrating it as objectively as possible. The authors should be applauded for the attempt to develop a scientifically based methodology for child custody evaluations, and future research should be conducted to assess its value in practical work."
Reviewed by Lennart Sjöberg
PsycCRITIQUES, May 29, 2013, Vol. 58, Release 22, Article 6
Authors and Affiliations
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Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Improving the Quality of Child Custody Evaluations
Book Subtitle: A Systematic Model
Authors: Lauren Woodward Tolle, William T. O'Donohue
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3405-4
Publisher: Springer New York, NY
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science, Behavioral Science and Psychology (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4614-3404-7Published: 10 May 2012
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4899-8553-8Published: 11 June 2014
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4614-3405-4Published: 10 May 2012
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XII, 188
Topics: Law and Psychology, Family, Social Work