The role of court-based mediation in the resolution of divorce disputes (original) (raw)

A DECADE OF DIVORCE MEDIATION RESEARCH: Some Answers and Questions

Family Court Review, 2005

A decade of divorce mediation research has focused on outcomes such as settlement rates, cost eflciency, client satisfaction, effect on levels of conflict and cooperation, psychological adjustment, and compliance. Despite methodological problems limiting generalizations, most siudies report mildly favorable to very positive findings. Research on the mediation process and mediator behaviors has received very limited aitention, and should be the focus of the next decade of research to elevate the mediation field to a more sophisticated, effective level of practice.

A Decade of Divorce Mediation Research

Family Court Review, 2005

A decade of divorce mediation research has focused on outcomes such as settlement rates, cost eflciency, client satisfaction, effect on levels of conflict and cooperation, psychological adjustment, and compliance. Despite methodological problems limiting generalizations, most siudies report mildly favorable to very positive findings. Research on the mediation process and mediator behaviors has received very limited aitention, and should be the focus of the next decade of research to elevate the mediation field to a more sophisticated, effective level of practice.

MANDATORY MEDIATION: ENCOURAGING RESULTS FOR THE COURT SYSTEM

Family Court Review, 2005

An evaluation of the effects of a local mandatory mediation rule on the court system was conducted. The outcomes of a randomly selected sample of divorce cases initiated after the mandatory mediation rule was invoked were compared to three groups: cases initiated in the same county prior to the mandatory rule, and preand post-mandatory mediation cases from a comparable county with no mediation requirement. The rule had several effects as the mandatory mediation sample showed: a higher proportion of stipulated agreements about custody and visitation arrangements; a "spillover" from custody issues to a higher proportion of agreements on all issues; and less time spent in the legal divorce process. Implications for the court system in terms of time and money are discussed, as well as the relative benefits of court-ordered, as opposed to voluntary, mediation.

Considering effective divorce mediation: Three potential factors

Conflict Resolution Quarterly, 2002

The purpose of this exploratory, qualitative stgdy was to examine mediator efect by employing a repeated measures research design in which we videotaped mediators working with actors and a scripted divorce case scenario. What factors distinpish higher-rated mediators fiom lower-rated ones? Our discourse analysis offour divorce mediations suggested three signijcant factors of injuence that finction interactively and afect both mediation outcome and process. Ethical implications regarding how mediators achieve success in these three domains are discussed. This article presents implications for researchers, trainers, and practitioners; it suggests important directions for fiture research with nonsimulated mediation. ediation, like other professional practices, is a complex process. M Indeed, we suspect that many variables contribute to the success or failure of both the process and the outcome of a mediation, possibly (1) mediator characteristics (personality, education, professional training, skill level, cultural background, age, gender, appearance, and so on),