Family Research Consortium IV

Collaboratives
 

Overview

A fundamental, enduring component of the Family Research Consortium is the development of collaborative activities, including joint writing, conceptual refinement, research development, and mentoring. Several collaborative projects are underway.

Examining the Needs of Adult Family and Close Ties of Incarcerated Persons in Los Angeles County

We have partnered with the long-standing and key community organization, Friends Outside in Los Angeles County, in order to explore the feasibility of conducting a larger state-wide assessment of the needs of adult family members and close ties of incarcerated persons. We are interested in the experiences and well-being of adult family members during their separation from the inmate, including those who may not have chosen to maintain contact with the inmate. Family members are broadly defined to include immediate family, extended family, and any adult in a significant relationship with the inmate prior to incarceration (referred to as "close ties"). Our ultimate goal is to better inform social service agencies, community structures, and policy makers about the impact of large-scale imprisonment practices and to develop mechanisms that better address the needs of those affected. However, well-designed interventions must take into account the varied psychosocial impacts experienced among families. First and foremost, these impacts must be documented. This study sets out to present a detailed description of the psychosocial impacts of incarceration on the adult family members and close ties of inmates in California. The purpose is to identify specific risks and protective factors linked to various types of crime, and to develop interventions for families of inmates that will assist in prevention of ongoing negative impacts of incarceration and increase protective factors.

Specific Aims:

  1. Develop a model to better understand and assess the service needs of adult family members and close ties of prisoners.
  2. Determine the feasibility of methods to be used to conduct a statewide investigation of the impact of incarceration on adult family members and close ties of prisoners.
  3. Inform service providers about service needs and access barriers of prison inmate families.

The study directors are:

M. Belinda Tucker, Ph.D.
University of California, Los Angeles

Mary Weaver, Ed.D.
Executive Director, Friends Outside in Los Angeles County

Carrie Petrucci, Ph.D.
California State University, Los Angeles

For additional information, please contact: mbtucker@ucla.edu

Enduring Couples in Varying Sociocultural Contexts - Special Issue of Family Relations

M. Belinda Tucker (Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles) and Ann C. Crouter (Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University) are the guest editors of a special issue of Family Relations on enduring couples in varying sociocultural contexts. The issue explores variations in couple longevity in diverse contexts from multiple disciplinary perspectives using a range of research strategies. The papers (many authored by members of our growing FRC family) address an array of today's most challenging issues as they are realized and confronted in enduring unions, including racial discrimination and stress, economic strain, interracial relationships, domestic violence, and religious beliefs. Other topics examined include same-sex couples' decisions about formalizing their commitments, cultural variability in relationships within race, and the enduring and supportive unions that develop through co-parenting in unmarried couples. Each paper discusses implications of its findings for professional practice. The issue will be published in April 2008.

Social Context, Cultural Process, and Mental Health among Racially and Ethnically Diverse Families

A group of FRC IV faculty have gathered together to collaborate on research that is focused on isolating the social and cultural processes that account for mental health, illness, and disorder among diverse groups of families. Collectively, the group has expertise with African American, Asian American, Native American, Latino, and immigrant families and mental health. In addition, the faculty's work covers different phases of the life span. The group's efforts are focused on finding answers to two basic questions: (1) WHY do social and cultural processes matter for mental health?; and (2) HOW do we go about studying the processes effectively in racially and ethnically diverse populations? Currently, the group's work is focused on joint analyses of existing national studies of mental health among racially and ethnically diverse populations, planning a conference that highlights cutting edge empirical work in this area, and designing new studies that will address unanswered questions about the social and cultural processes that lead to mental health, illness, and disorder.

This group recently published a special issue of the journal Research in Human Development entitled, "Social context, cultural processes, and mental health across the life span among ethnically diverse populations." See the NIMH press release.


UCLA Center for Culture & Health, 760 Westwood Plaza, Box 62, Los Angeles, CA 90024