{"title":"Deconstructing the lost in the mall study","authors":"Lynn S. Crook, Linda E McEwen","doi":"10.1080/15379418.2019.1601603","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15379418.2019.1601603","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In their frequently-cited “lost in the mall” study from two decades ago, Loftus and Pickrell claimed their findings “reveal that people can be led to believe that entire events happened to them after suggestions to that effect.” The study continues to be cited by the media and by academics to support claims that adults who recover memories of childhood sexual abuse have been led to believe such claims by therapists. The study parallels claims that parents coach children to falsely accuse and thus alienate the other parent in child custody cases. We describe how laws passed by state legislatures led to the need for a new defense for abuse accusations and how a foundation was established to promote that defense. We report that Loftus, who designed the study to support the new defense, testified over 20 years later that the study results apply only to the 24 subjects and cannot be applied to other populations.","PeriodicalId":45478,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Child Custody","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81029915","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Rapport: Little effect on children’s, adolescents’, and adults’ statement quantity, accuracy, and suggestibility","authors":"Melanie Sauerland, Nathalie Brackmann, H. Otgaar","doi":"10.1080/15379418.2018.1509759","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15379418.2018.1509759","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Rapport building is widely recommended in eyewitness interview situations and is a critical component in some interview protocols. However, empirical evidence on the effectiveness of rapport building on memory performance is scant. The current experiment examined the effects of different levels of rapport (none, minimal, extensive) on children’s, adolescents’, and adults’ memory (N = 229). Participants viewed a video of a mock theft and received one of three possible rapport manipulations. They then provided a free narrative of what they had seen, followed by 18 cued (suggestive and nonsuggestive) questions. In general, we found limited evidence of positive effects of rapport building on statement quantity and accuracy across age groups. Adolescents did profit more from extensive rapport building compared to no rapport. In line with the idea of a linear development of memory measures with age, adolescents generally fell in-between the other two age groups across different memory measures. The current study encourages systematic experimental research on the effect of rapport building on eyewitness memory.","PeriodicalId":45478,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Child Custody","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81232953","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"When children’s testimonies are used as evidence: how children’s accounts may impact child custodial decisions","authors":"H. Otgaar, M. L. Howe","doi":"10.1080/15379418.2018.1568721","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15379418.2018.1568721","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In child custody cases, children oftentimes provide allegations of experienced trauma against one of their parents. Such allegations can happen before any investigative interviews (e.g., by the police or child protective services) have taken place. A central theme here concerns how to appraise such allegations and make certain that children’s accounts are taken seriously. In the current special issue, the focus is on new work on the functioning of children’s memory and its relation to trauma or work on children’s suggestibility and memory when they are traumatized. Specifically, key experts in the field of children’s memory provided contributions on: (1) the impact of interviewer support and rapport building on children’s testimonies, (2) the role of parental alienation in children’s testimonial accuracy, and (3) different types of false memories in children’s memory reports.","PeriodicalId":45478,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Child Custody","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88536583","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Katrine M. Turoy-Smith, Sonja P. Brubacher, Becky Earhart, Martine B. Powell
{"title":"Eliciting children’s recall regarding home life and relationships","authors":"Katrine M. Turoy-Smith, Sonja P. Brubacher, Becky Earhart, Martine B. Powell","doi":"10.1080/15379418.2018.1530629","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15379418.2018.1530629","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Child interviews form an important component of custody evaluations. Yet, research on children’s responses to questions about home life and relationships is lacking. In the present study, children (N = 47) aged 6 to 10 years were interviewed about their daily routines and family relationships. Responses to four categories of questions were compared: open and specific questions about routines, and negative and positive aspects of family relationships. Responses were coded for amount of information, informativeness, topic pertinence, and refusals to answer. Results suggested that questions about everyday routines and relationships elicit relevant and informative responses from children. It is suggested that interviewers begin with open-ended questions regarding daily routines to structure family law interviews with children.","PeriodicalId":45478,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Child Custody","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82253657","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Editor Acknowledgement of Reviewers for Volume 15","authors":"","doi":"10.1080/15379418.2019.1569801","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15379418.2019.1569801","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45478,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Child Custody","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80936205","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
S. Priolo-Filho, D. Goldfarb, Donna Shestowsky, Janelle Sampana, Lucia C. A. Williams, G. Goodman
{"title":"Judgments regarding parental alienation when parental hostility or child sexual abuse is alleged","authors":"S. Priolo-Filho, D. Goldfarb, Donna Shestowsky, Janelle Sampana, Lucia C. A. Williams, G. Goodman","doi":"10.1080/15379418.2018.1544531","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15379418.2018.1544531","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Allegations of Parental Alienation (PA), the systematic disparaging of one parent by the other parent aimed at alienating their child’s affections, as a basis for child custody decisions are highly controversial. Claims of parental hostility or allegations of child sexual abuse in custody cases may trigger concerns about PA. Family court professionals (N = 280) rated young children’s accuracy of report (e.g., suggestibility, honesty) in general and also read three custody scenarios varying as to whether or not they included allegations of parental hostility or child sexual abuse, or no such allegations. For each scenario, the alleged alienating parent’s gender was experimentally varied between subjects. Participants rated the likelihood that each case involved PA. For the scenario that included allegations of child sexual abuse, professionals who viewed young children as more inaccurate reporters or who read about the mother (rather than a father) as the alleged alienator were more likely to rate the scenario as involving PA. For the scenario that described parental hostility but no child sexual abuse allegations, professionals who were older or female were more likely to judge the scenario as involving parental alienation when a mother (rather than a father) was the alleged alienator, whereas there were no significant predictors of responses to the no-allegation scenarios. Findings are discussed in relation to the difficult task of evaluating custody cases for PA when parental hostility or child sexual abuse is alleged.","PeriodicalId":45478,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Child Custody","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87117314","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Influence of the Caldwell report, and other computer generated interpretive reports, in child custody evaluations: A brief report","authors":"Ronald A. Stolberg","doi":"10.1080/15379418.2018.1539938","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15379418.2018.1539938","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This brief report reviews the use of MMPI-2 computer-generated interpretive reports in child custody evaluations. Particular attention was aimed at the Caldwell Report’s MMPI-2 Custody Report. Considering the recent temporary closure of the Caldwell Report, this article will discuss what scoring and report options remain currently for interpretive custody reports. A perspective is shared that a dependence on computer-generated interpretive reports is detrimental to the science and practice of custody evaluation work. Finally, the author calls for future and revised computer-generated interpretive reports to include more information regarding a link to conclusions, gender bias, and peer reviewed research.","PeriodicalId":45478,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Child Custody","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75617676","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Are children better witnesses than adolescents? Developmental trends in different false memory paradigms","authors":"Bruna Calado, H. Otgaar, P. Muris","doi":"10.1080/15379418.2019.1568948","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15379418.2019.1568948","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The current study compared older children’s (11/12-year-olds) and adolescents’ (14/15-year-olds) vulnerability to false memory creation using two different methods (i.e., the Deese/Roediger-McDermott [DRM] and memory conformity paradigms) involving neutral and negative stimuli. In line with previous research, a developmental reversal effect was found for the DRM paradigm, which means that when employing this method children displayed lower false memory levels than adolescents. However, when using the memory conformity paradigm, the opposite pattern was found, with adolescents forming fewer false memories than children. This indicates that in a co-witness context, adolescents are less prone to memory errors than children. The emotional valence of the stimuli used in both paradigms did not notably affect the production of false memories. There was no statistically significant correlation between false memories as measured by the DRM and the memory conformity paradigms. Altogether, the current study indicates that there is no single type of false memory as different experimental paradigms evoke different types of erroneous recollections. Additionally, our study corroborates past findings in the literature concerning the issue of developmental reversal, strengthening the idea that under certain circumstances children might indeed be better witnesses than adolescents.","PeriodicalId":45478,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Child Custody","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86852627","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Connie J Beck, Laila Alshami, Melissa M. de la Luz, Andrea N. Camacho de Anda, H. Kendall, Elizabeth S. Rosati, Margo Rowe
{"title":"Children conceived from rape: Legislation, parental rights and outcomes for victims","authors":"Connie J Beck, Laila Alshami, Melissa M. de la Luz, Andrea N. Camacho de Anda, H. Kendall, Elizabeth S. Rosati, Margo Rowe","doi":"10.1080/15379418.2018.1531275","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15379418.2018.1531275","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Approximately 5% of women who are victims of rape become pregnant, and approximately 32% of those women choose to raise their child. Many of the rapists are known to the victims and the victims who conceive often experience multiple rapes and pregnancies. Several states allow termination of parental rights of rapists but only after criminal convictions, which are nearly impossible to obtain. Without criminal convictions and termination of parental rights, family courts are ordering victim mothers to parent their children with their rapists. This article provides an overview of the state statutes regarding the termination of parental rights of rapists and the psychological and health impacts on the victims and their children. This article concludes discussing possible legislative remedies for victim mothers that will make the justice system process easier for and more accessible to these hidden families.","PeriodicalId":45478,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Child Custody","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75274399","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
S. Verd, G. Aguiló, M. Kraemer, Mercedes Fernández, Catalina Servera, Marina Colom, Patricia Palmer, Mar López-Sureda, M. Juan, J. Ripoll, J. Llobera
{"title":"Past medical history: A comparison between children at the point of entry into the care system and children at home","authors":"S. Verd, G. Aguiló, M. Kraemer, Mercedes Fernández, Catalina Servera, Marina Colom, Patricia Palmer, Mar López-Sureda, M. Juan, J. Ripoll, J. Llobera","doi":"10.1080/15379418.2018.1521761","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15379418.2018.1521761","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract We conducted a one-center, case-controlled study to determine which medical disorders portend entry into out-of-home care. A total of 137 children aged 4 to 14 in local authority care and 126 controls (at home children) matched by health area, age, and sex were studied. The pediatric Primary Care registry was reviewed for the period from May to September 2017. Compared with children at home, those at entry into the care system were significantly more likely to: experience a poisoning; present with bruising; and suffer from tooth decay, psychiatric, or neurological conditions. Conversely, they were significantly less likely to suffer from asthma, abdominal pain, insect stings, or limb injuries. Analysis of medical history helped to identify children at risk of out-of-home placement.","PeriodicalId":45478,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Child Custody","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78914887","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}