NCJ Number
100700
Journal
Mediation Quarterly Issue: 10 Dated: (December 1985) Pages: 5-23
Date Published
1985
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This 1984 survey of 461 members of the Academy of Family Mediators examined their policy of intervention to shape divorce settlements as well as the relationship of mediator backgrounds to intervention policy.
Abstract
The survey obtained information on mediator sex, age, marital status, professional background, and mediation experience; an inventory of mediators' practice-related values; and an assessment of mediators' responses to three case studies. Thirty-three percent of the sample responded. The three case studies dealt with child visitation, a property arrangement and the rights of a dependent spouse, and a financial agreement. Ten percent of the respondents espoused a highly noninterventionist rationale based on a commitment to the autonomy of the parties in reaching an agreement. Approximately 25 percent of the respondents were highly interventionist based on a commitment to protect absent or weaker parties in the achievement of fair agreements. Two-thirds of the respondents selectively applied criteria to determine whether or not to intervene in particular cases. Generally, there was no strong association between mediator background characteristics and preferred intervention strategies although women tended to be more interventionist and protective than men. Tabular data and 13 references.