SmithsonBarlowHunterEwing2015

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SmithsonBarlowHunterEwing2015
BibType ARTICLE
Key SmithsonBarlowHunterEwing2015
Author(s) Janet Smithson, Anne Barlow, Rosemary Hunter, Jan Ewing
Title The ‘child’s best interests’ as an argumentative resource in family mediation sessions
Editor(s)
Tag(s) Discursive Psychology, Children, discourse, dispute resolution, divorce/separation, mediation
Publisher
Year 2015
Language English
City
Month
Journal Discourse Studies
Volume 17
Number 5
Pages 609–623
URL Link
DOI 10.1177/146144561559072
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

We used Discursive Psychology to study the claims and arguments which occur when ‘the child’s best interests’ is produced as a resource in family mediation settings. Analysis draws on data from three pairs of separated or separating parents attempting to resolve child contact or residency disputes through mediation. Our analysis focuses on the tendency of claims to the abstract notion of the child’s best interests to exacerbate conflict, especially as parents drew on conflicting research in this area. Changing expectations of fathering could be observed in the men’s argumentative positioning, and this was taken up in different ways by ex-partners and by mediators. Participants aligned themselves with mediators’ statements by picking up details of mediators’ language, hampering mediators’ attempted neutrality. The problematic nature of acknowledging the intensity of emotions in this process was also highlighted.

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