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Gender Bias in Family Courts : How Does Gender Influence Custody Decisions when Intimate Partner Violence Is Involved?

Gross, N. (2025) Gender Bias in Family Courts : How Does Gender Influence Custody Decisions when Intimate Partner Violence Is Involved?

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Abstract:Literature established that family court proceedings in custody disputes lack objectivity, and mothers are disadvantaged in court when raising Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) allegations towards the father. Moreover, case studies have shown that the court tends to give more weight to the father's testimony, and the credibility of the mother decreases when the father makes alienation claims. This study posed a first experimental approach in the literature to confirm prior case studies and literature reviews. Using a novel design, we created a 2 (gender of the parent: male and female) x 3 (IPV Condition: No IPV, IPV Allegation, IPV + Alienation) within-subject design which investigated the effect of the independent variables parent gender and IPV condition on custody decision in favour of the mother, the father, a third party, or shared custody (dependent variable). Six family court case vignettes are provided to each participant, who is then asked to imagine themselves serving as the judge in each scenario. Contrary to previous studies, we found no disadvantage towards mothers, nor a perceived decrease in credibility. Notably, victims, regardless of gender, received a higher credibility rating than the abuser, across conditions. The findings suggest that gender does not appear to be the primary factor influencing this effect. However, we found that the gender of the judge affected custody decisions. Female participants in this study more often assigned sole custody to the mother when she raised IPV allegations, whereas male participants tended to prefer shared custody, regardless of whether IPV was mentioned. Conclusively, this study could not confirm prior case study literature referring to a sole gender bias towards litigants, but suggested that this issue might include underlying mechanisms like the gender of the judge, influencing the custody decisions.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:77 psychology
Programme:Psychology MSc (66604)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/106997
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