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Family Research (family + research)
Selected AbstractsRewards and Challenges of Using Ethnography in Family ResearchFAMILY & CONSUMER SCIENCES RESEARCH JOURNAL, Issue 1 2007Lara Descartes Ethnography offers many potential benefits to family researchers, such as providing on-the-ground knowledge of the contexts that affect family functioning and processes. This article describes ethnographic methods and reviews how they have been and may be used in family research, whether alone or in combination with more traditional approaches. The author's fieldwork experiences are used to discuss some of the rewards and challenges of ethnography. The ways in which issues of personal identity and power may impact the relationship between the ethnographer and research participants are examined. Also discussed are the ways in which contemporary constructions of private and public space and time affect the ethnographic process. The goal of the article is to highlight the value of ethnography to family research and to increase awareness of some of the factors to be considered while planning such work. [source] Advances in Latino Family Research: Cultural Adaptations of Evidence-Based InterventionsFAMILY PROCESS, Issue 2 2009GUILLERMO BERNAL PH.D. The stark contrast between frequent calls for research and practice that are applicable across a broad spectrum of cultural and ethnically diverse groups and the dearth of empirical knowledge about Latino families provided the impetus for this special issue on advances in Latino family research. A focus on empirically based practice frames the issue, focusing specifically on how concepts (expressed emotion, parenting style) can be used within interventions, how Latino parents perceive efforts to deliver evidence-based interventions, and how pilot projects that delivered culturally adapted interventions in three separate cities impacted family functioning. In all, the introduction highlights the complexities for researchers in meeting the needs of the field to ensure that effective interventions are applicable across cultural groups. Meeting the challenges is important to address the need of the growing Latino population. Advances in intervention research with ethnic minorities also stand to contribute to the advancement of intervention research broadly. This special issue provides examples of efforts that are underway to better understand what treatments work for Latino families, provided by whom, for what specific problems, and in which specific circumstances, paving the way to begin attempting to answer a challenge posed more than 40 years ago by Gordon Paul. RESUMEN El marcado contraste entre las frecuentes convocatorias para investigaciones y prácticas aplicables a un amplio espectro de grupos de distintas culturas y razas, y la escasez de conocimiento empírico sobre las familias latinas sirvieron como impulso para publicar este número especial sobre los avances en las investigaciones relativas a las familias latinas. La publicación está enmarcada en el análisis de la práctica sustentada empíricamente, centrándose específicamente en cómo los conceptos (emoción expresada, estilo de crianza de los hijos) pueden utilizarse dentro de las intervenciones, en cómo los padres latinos perciben las iniciativas de realizar intervenciones sustentadas empíricamente y en cómo los proyectos piloto que ofrecieron intervenciones adaptadas culturalmente en tres ciudades distintas influyeron sobre el desenvolvimiento familiar. En general, la introducción destaca las complicaciones que enfrentan los investigadores a la hora de responder a las necesidades del campo para garantizar que puedan aplicarse intervenciones eficaces a distintos grupos culturales. Resolver estas complicaciones es importante para responder a la necesidad de la población latina en aumento. Los avances en las investigaciones sobre intervenciones con minorías étnicas también contribuyen al avance de las investigaciones sobre intervenciones en general. La publicación especial ofrece ejemplos de iniciativas que están en marcha para comprender mejor qué tratamientos son eficaces para las familias latinas, quiénes deben proporcionarlos, para qué problemas específicos y en qué circunstancias específicas, allanando el camino para comenzar a responder un problema que planteó Gordon Paul hace más de 40 años. Palabras clave: Latinos/hispanos, familia, adaptación cultural, intervención, salud mental de los latinos [source] Critical Theorizing: Enhancing Theoretical Rigor in Family ResearchJOURNAL OF FAMILY THEORY & REVIEW, Issue 3 2009Stan J. Knapp Theory performs vital descriptive, sensitizing, integrative, explanatory, and value functions in the generation of knowledge about families. Yet theory and research can also simultaneously misconceive, desensitize, misdirect, misinterpret, and devalue. Overcoming the degenerative potentialities of theory and research requires attention to critical theorizing, a joint process of (a) critically examining the explicit and implicit assumptions of theory and research and (b) using dialogical theoretical practices. I draw upon the work of John Stuart Mill to argue that critical and dialogical theorizing is a vital and necessary practice in the production of understandings of family phenomena that are more fully scientific and empirical. A brief examination of behavioral research on marital interaction illustrates the importance of critical theorizing. [source] PARTNERING WITH COMMUNITY STAKEHOLDERS: ENGAGING RURAL AFRICAN AMERICAN FAMILIES IN BASIC RESEARCH AND THE STRONG AFRICAN AMERICAN FAMILIES PREVENTIVE INTERVENTION PROGRAMJOURNAL OF MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 3 2004Velma McBride Murry The Center for Family Research has implemented the first family-community preventive intervention program designed specifically for rural African American families and youths. Basic information garnered during a decade of research in rural African American communities formed the theoretical and empirical foundations for the program, which focuses on delaying the onset of sexual activity and discouraging substance use among youths. The Center's researchers have formulated future directions for engaging rural families in basic research and preventive intervention programs. [source] Longitudinal Dyad Models in Family ResearchJOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY, Issue 4 2005Karen S. Lyons Multilevel modeling allows for the simultaneous analysis of data gathered at more than 1 unit of analysis (e.g., children nested in schools). It is often used to examine the effects of various contexts on individual differences in change. This paper promotes the application of multilevel models to longitudinal dyadic data in family research. By focusing on the dyad as context, researchers can examine within-dyad change and begin to understand the interactive processes that constitute the relationship between partners. They can then frame questions about interdyad differences in within-dyad change. We present several longitudinal models that researchers can use to examine the pattern of change within dyads, assess heterogeneity in change across dyads, and investigate cross-partner effects on change. We comment on the implications of these models for family research. [source] Multilevel Models in Family Research: Some Conceptual and Methodological IssuesJOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY, Issue 2 2002Jay Teachman Examining the impact of context on individual-level outcomes has become an increasingly common undertaking in the social sciences. The growth in concern for identifying the effects of macrolevel characteristics has generated both theoretical and methodological advancements. In this issue of Journal of Marriage and Family, Butler (2002) researches whether the effect of welfare benefit levels on premarital childbearing varies by context, Hoffmann (2002) researches the effect of context on adolescent drug use, and Simons et al. (2002) examine how the relationship between parenting and child conduct varies by context. These articles are used as a background to discuss important theoretical and methodological issues surrounding the analysis of multilevel data. The authors present a simple analysis of data pertaining to age at first marriage taken from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and merged with census data to measure contextual effects as a pedagogical device for introducing readers to the benefits of multilevel modeling. [source] Consciously Inclusive Family Research: Can We Get There From Here?JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY, Issue 3 2001James M. White First page of article [source] Pro-family Organizations in Calgary, 1998: Beliefs, Interconnections and Allies,CANADIAN REVIEW OF SOCIOLOGY/REVUE CANADIENNE DE SOCIOLOGIE, Issue 1 2001Gillian Anderson Dans cet article, nous comparons les convictions des différents groupes pro-famille de Calgary et nous préscntons la structure des liens qui unissent ces groupes. Les données, recueillies en 1998, proviennent de documents et d'entretiens semi-structurés avec les chefs de file de ces groupes. Nous abordons ici trois problèmes de recherche. Tout d'abord, nous examinons la teneur des relations entre groupes pro-famille et pro-vie. Tous les groupes pro-famille, même ceux qui se prononcent résolument contre l'avortement, se dis-tinguent des groupes pro-vie sur le plan tant organisational que politique. Ensuite, nous nous penchons sur le rôle des croyances chré-tiennes au sein du mouvement. Nous affirmons que, bien que les groupes chrétiens aient été dominants en 1998, la promotion, de la famille hétérosexuelle nucléaire, et non les questions de doctrine, a été fondamentale pour le mouvement. Enfin, nous examinons si le mouvement s'est scindé entre socioconservateurs et centristes, les centristes étant peu représentatifs en 1998. En outre, l'un des groupes présentant un profil centriste, la National Foundation for Family Research and Education, a tout fait pour légitimer du point de vue scientifique les arguments moraux des socioconservateurs en faveur de la famille. En conclusion, nous soutenons que le mouvement pro-famille à Calgary s'est éloigné de sa vocation initiale de contre-mouvement antiféministe. Dans l'avenir, la popularité du mouvement pro-famille au Canada dépendra peut-être des valeurs postféministes qu'il affichera. This paper presents a comparative study of the beliefs of pro-family organizations in Calgary and a structural mapping of organizational ties. Data were gathered in 1998 from documents and semi-structured interviews with group leaders. Three research problems are addressed. The first concerns the closeness of the relationship between pro-family and pro-life groups. We find that all pro-family groups, even those with strong anti-abortion convictions, were organizationally and politically distinctive from pro-life groups. The second problem considers the role of Christian beliefs in the movement. We ascertain that although Christian groups were dominant in 1998, promotion of the heterosexual nuclear family, not doctrinal issues, was fundamental to the movement. The third problem concerns whether the movement was bifurcated between social conservative and centrist segments. The centrist segment was quite weak in 1998. Furthermore, one of the groups with a centrist persona, the National Foundation for Family Research and Education, strove to supply scientific legitimation for social conservatives' moral claims about the family. In conclusion, the article argues that the pro-family movement in Calgary has broken free of its initial phase as an anti-feminist countermovement and suggests that the future popularity of pro-family advocacy in Canada will be proportional to the degree that it is couched in a post-feminist framework. [source] Working with managers to improve services: changes in the role of research in social careCHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 1 2004Harriet Ward ABSTRACT The setting of specific objectives for children's services and the identification of key outcome indicators, together with the development of a core information specification for children's services with its practical application in the implementation of the Integrated Children's System, all mean that substantially more data are now available to child welfare agencies. Not so long ago in the UK it was the role of research teams to collect and analyse such data. Now that so much of it is already available to agencies, are researchers who work in this area of applied social policy research becoming redundant? Using data from the cohorts of looked after children being studied at the Centre for Child and Family Research, Loughborough University, the paper demonstrates how researchers can work in consultation with the managers of child welfare agencies to make better sense of the data at their disposal. It considers three issues: what additional variables need to be explored to help agencies better understand their performance; how groups of children could be identified who follow predictable pathways through social care; and how qualitative information is necessary to gain a true picture of what is happening. All of these examples demonstrate a fundamental role for researchers in working with social services personnel to identify how services can be improved. [source] Rewards and Challenges of Using Ethnography in Family ResearchFAMILY & CONSUMER SCIENCES RESEARCH JOURNAL, Issue 1 2007Lara Descartes Ethnography offers many potential benefits to family researchers, such as providing on-the-ground knowledge of the contexts that affect family functioning and processes. This article describes ethnographic methods and reviews how they have been and may be used in family research, whether alone or in combination with more traditional approaches. The author's fieldwork experiences are used to discuss some of the rewards and challenges of ethnography. The ways in which issues of personal identity and power may impact the relationship between the ethnographer and research participants are examined. Also discussed are the ways in which contemporary constructions of private and public space and time affect the ethnographic process. The goal of the article is to highlight the value of ethnography to family research and to increase awareness of some of the factors to be considered while planning such work. [source] Advances in Latino Family Research: Cultural Adaptations of Evidence-Based InterventionsFAMILY PROCESS, Issue 2 2009GUILLERMO BERNAL PH.D. The stark contrast between frequent calls for research and practice that are applicable across a broad spectrum of cultural and ethnically diverse groups and the dearth of empirical knowledge about Latino families provided the impetus for this special issue on advances in Latino family research. A focus on empirically based practice frames the issue, focusing specifically on how concepts (expressed emotion, parenting style) can be used within interventions, how Latino parents perceive efforts to deliver evidence-based interventions, and how pilot projects that delivered culturally adapted interventions in three separate cities impacted family functioning. In all, the introduction highlights the complexities for researchers in meeting the needs of the field to ensure that effective interventions are applicable across cultural groups. Meeting the challenges is important to address the need of the growing Latino population. Advances in intervention research with ethnic minorities also stand to contribute to the advancement of intervention research broadly. This special issue provides examples of efforts that are underway to better understand what treatments work for Latino families, provided by whom, for what specific problems, and in which specific circumstances, paving the way to begin attempting to answer a challenge posed more than 40 years ago by Gordon Paul. RESUMEN El marcado contraste entre las frecuentes convocatorias para investigaciones y prácticas aplicables a un amplio espectro de grupos de distintas culturas y razas, y la escasez de conocimiento empírico sobre las familias latinas sirvieron como impulso para publicar este número especial sobre los avances en las investigaciones relativas a las familias latinas. La publicación está enmarcada en el análisis de la práctica sustentada empíricamente, centrándose específicamente en cómo los conceptos (emoción expresada, estilo de crianza de los hijos) pueden utilizarse dentro de las intervenciones, en cómo los padres latinos perciben las iniciativas de realizar intervenciones sustentadas empíricamente y en cómo los proyectos piloto que ofrecieron intervenciones adaptadas culturalmente en tres ciudades distintas influyeron sobre el desenvolvimiento familiar. En general, la introducción destaca las complicaciones que enfrentan los investigadores a la hora de responder a las necesidades del campo para garantizar que puedan aplicarse intervenciones eficaces a distintos grupos culturales. Resolver estas complicaciones es importante para responder a la necesidad de la población latina en aumento. Los avances en las investigaciones sobre intervenciones con minorías étnicas también contribuyen al avance de las investigaciones sobre intervenciones en general. La publicación especial ofrece ejemplos de iniciativas que están en marcha para comprender mejor qué tratamientos son eficaces para las familias latinas, quiénes deben proporcionarlos, para qué problemas específicos y en qué circunstancias específicas, allanando el camino para comenzar a responder un problema que planteó Gordon Paul hace más de 40 años. Palabras clave: Latinos/hispanos, familia, adaptación cultural, intervención, salud mental de los latinos [source] If You Can Use Them: Flexibility Policies, Organizational Commitment, and Perceived PerformanceINDUSTRIAL RELATIONS, Issue 2 2003Article first published online: 25 MAR 200, Susan C. Eaton This study links workplace flexibility policies,formal, informal, and perceived usable,to organizational commitment and self-reported productivity. Professional and technical employees of biotechnology firms were surveyed. Where employees could freely use policies, a positive association with outcomes is found. The article contributes a new measure to capture employees' organizational experience, relevant to work and family research. [source] Of Memes and Marriage: Toward a Positive Relationship ScienceJOURNAL OF FAMILY THEORY & REVIEW, Issue 1 2010Frank D. Fincham Marital and family research has tended to focus on distressed relationships. Reasons for this focus are documented before keys to establishing a positive relationship science are outlined. Increased study of positive affect is needed to better understand relationships, and the best way to accomplish this goal is to embrace the construct of "relationship flourishing." The behavioral approach system and the behavioral inhibition system are described and their potential role in understanding positive relationship processes is described using, as examples, commitment and forgiveness. A link to positive psychology is made, and it is proposed that the study of positive relationships constitutes the fourth pillar of this subdiscipline. Finally, the potential for focus on positive relationship processes to integrate multiple literatures is noted. [source] Editorial for JIDR special issue on family research , December 2006JOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY RESEARCH, Issue 12 2006Richard P. Hastings [source] Marriage and Child Well-Being: Research and Policy PerspectivesJOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY, Issue 5 2010Susan L. Brown Over the past decade, the linkages between marriage and child well-being have attracted the attention of researchers and policy makers alike. Children's living arrangements have become increasingly diverse and unstable, which raises important questions about how and why family structure and stability are related to child outcomes. This article reviews new research on this topic, emphasizing how it can inform policy debates about the role of marriage in reducing poverty and improving child outcomes. It also pays special attention to new scholarship on unmarried, primarily low-income families, the target of recent federal marriage initiatives, to appraise the potential contributions of family research to ongoing policy discussions. [source] Longitudinal Dyad Models in Family ResearchJOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY, Issue 4 2005Karen S. Lyons Multilevel modeling allows for the simultaneous analysis of data gathered at more than 1 unit of analysis (e.g., children nested in schools). It is often used to examine the effects of various contexts on individual differences in change. This paper promotes the application of multilevel models to longitudinal dyadic data in family research. By focusing on the dyad as context, researchers can examine within-dyad change and begin to understand the interactive processes that constitute the relationship between partners. They can then frame questions about interdyad differences in within-dyad change. We present several longitudinal models that researchers can use to examine the pattern of change within dyads, assess heterogeneity in change across dyads, and investigate cross-partner effects on change. We comment on the implications of these models for family research. [source] Historical Perspectives on Family StudiesJOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY, Issue 2 2000Stephanie Coontz This article explores the relationship of historical research to contemporary family studies. Family history was influenced greatly by fields such as sociology and anthropology, leading it to make several contributions to those fields in turn. The continuing collaboration of these disciplines can significantly enrich current family research, practice, and policy making. History's specific contribution lies in its attention to context. Although historical research confirms sociologic and ethnographic findings on the diversity of family forms, for example, it also reveals that all families are not created equal. The advantage of any particular type of family at any particular time is constructed out of contingent and historically variable social relationships. Historical research allows researchers to deepen their analysis of family diversity and family change by challenging widespread assumptions about what is and what is not truly new in family life. Such research complicates generalizations about the impact of family change and raises several methodological cautions about what can be compared and controlled for in analyzing family variations and outcomes. [source] | |||||||||||||