Toward an Objective Evaluation Framework for Youth Development in Family Law: Promoting Healthy Youth
This interdisciplinary Seed Grant project aims to investigate how children and adolescents growing up in conflicted families develop dysfunctional schemas, deeply held beliefs about themselves, others and the world.
These dysfunctional schemas are linked to serious mental health problems, increased family disputes and interactions with family law agencies. A multidisciplinary approach, combining developmental psychology, clinical psychology, youth preventive care and family law, seeks to understand the complex relationship between these schemas, psychopathology and family disputes. The project will provide an evidence-based framework to help legal decision makers prioritize the mental health and development of children in conflicting family situations.
Project team:
Prof. Arnoud Arntz, professor at the Department of Clinical Psychology of the Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the UvA