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- Title
Attorneys, tell your clients to think before they post: Social media data may influence how evaluators view their parental fitness.
- Authors
Jones, Ashley C. T.; Batastini, Ashley B.; Vitacco, Michael J.; Standridge, Rheanna L.; Knuth, Sean B.
- Abstract
Information from social media is used in evaluations of parental fitness with some regularity. Yet, research is lacking on perceptions of this information and no research has examined how social media data impacts forensic evaluators' opinions related to parental fitness. This study compared forensic evaluators' perceptions of data trustworthiness, usefulness, and initial opinion of parental fitness in a fictitious case in which parental fitness was questioned. Perceptions of a parent's behavior were compared across two types of data in which it was presented (an Instagram post or a medical record note) and across genders of the parent (mother or father) being hypothetically evaluated. As hypothesized, information documented on social media was viewed more critically than information documented by a healthcare provider. Further, information primarily referencing the father in the case was viewed as less trustworthy than information referencing the mother, which appeared influenced by evaluators' identified self‐reported sexist attitudes. Results suggest that family law attorneys, regardless of which parent they are representing, should advise their clients of the risks to using social media. Key points for the family court community: Documentation about a parent, provided as part of a parental fitness evaluation, was evaluated more critically when it was in the context of social media versus a medical record.Evaluators who hold more sexist attitudes view documentation referencing the father as less trustworthy than that which references the mother.There are inherent risks to using social media as it is often taken out of context, difficult to incorporate into evaluations, and can be modified or edited. It can also introduce prejudicial information into an evaluation and may bias an evaluator's assessment and decision‐making process.Attorneys should consider advising their clients against using it while custody and parental fitness evaluations are ongoing, or to at a minimum avoid posting content that could enhance the potential for misinterpretation (like content referencing alcohol or substances and disparaging statements about the other parent), as well as discourage clients from editing or deleting social media content during an evaluation to avoid concerns of evidence spoliation.Evaluators should engage in activities to reduce the likelihood that bias will influence evaluation processes and recommendations, such as specialty trainings and considering alternative hypotheses and scenarios.
- Subjects
SOCIAL media; PARENTS; PARENTING; FORENSIC psychiatry; FAMILY law courts
- Publication
Family Court Review, 2023, Vol 61, Issue 3, p545
- ISSN
1531-2445
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/fcre.12736