Mediating Divorce Disputes: Mediator Behaviors, Styles and Roles

Despite the growing popularity of divorce mediation, there has been little systematic research on the process of mediation and the roles and skills of mediators. This article reviews 35 cases involving contested child custody and visitation and generalizes about the techniques used by experienced divorce mediators to help couples reach resolutions to their differences. The article discusses different ways mediators orient couples to mediation, gain their commitment, identify the issues in dispute, overcome emotional and substantive obstacles and generate agreements. Variations in the ways mediators deal with the expression of emotions and the amount of control they exercise in structuring the process and generating an agreement are noted.