Center for Research on Families

Providing accurate, up-to-date information about families to policymakers, scholars, and the public is a critical need. Through its Center for Research on Families, the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences is building a lasting, multidisciplinary community of preeminent researchers studying issues of relevance to families, ranging from economics to biology.

CRF’s support of research areas like eating disorders, violence in the media, marriage and work, adoption, and immigration assimilation make it an emerging international leader in the field. Family research scholar and professor of psychology Maureen Perry-Jenkins, for example, has been examining the challenges that face low-income families as they juggle the demands of work and new parenthood. “Our findings will inform policymakers about the importance of family-friendly workplace policies,” she says.

The Center facilitates research on individual biology, health and development affecting families, processes and relationships within families (e.g., parent-child relations, marital and partner relationships, intergenerational relations), the social contexts of families (e.g., social class, race, ethnicity, gender, culture, historical period), the intersection of family life with other social institutions (e.g., schools, workplaces, childcare, religious institutions), and social and economic policy that affect the development, productivity, time, health, and well-being of families and family members.

These issues cut across academic disciplines, and the Center works collaboratively with faculty in and outside of the College. An endowed professorship and funds to sustain program activities will help expand the scope and breadth of this nationally-visible research center.

Studying Parental Responses to Newborns Fills Professor’s Day
In 2002 UnJa L. Hayes interviewed at five institutions of higher education for a post-doctoral fellowship in psychology. All of them—UMass Amherst, Mount Sinai, Georgia State University, Wayne State University and University of Texas Medical Branch—invited her to join them. “Some offered more perks,” says Hayes. “But UMass Amherst was my first choice because of the world-renowned reputation of the neuroendocrinologists in the department—particularly Geert de Vries.
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