Specific Factors Influencing Child Custody Evaluations

Child custody evaluations are often ordered by a judge when there is a disagreement between parents on what is in the best interest of their children. Psychologists are often the mental health professionals who get appointed to conduct these evaluations, and as such, there is an expectation that these assessments are made in an objective manner, free from the interference of explicit or implicit bias. While the importance of child custody decisions and the presence of biases have been studied separately in the literature, research has largely ignored how biases may play a role in child custody evaluations. Specifically, the literature has yet to investigate whether or not psychologists who conduct child custody evaluations are influenced by their own unconscious biases regarding race and gender. Thus, the current study sought to quantitatively assess for bias of licensed psychologists who do conduct child custody evaluations and licensed psychologists who do not conduct child custody evaluations. Results suggest there were few differences between the two groups. Additionally, the fact that so few differences between these two groups were found may indicate that the basic training and education that all clinical psychologists are exposed to during their doctoral programs and their continuing education are clearly fundamental to the profession.

Keywords: Child Custody: Bias; Evaluations; Parent qualities