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The Lifespan Family Research Program is dedicated to the advancement
of knowledge about families who have a member with a disability,
with a special emphasis on how these families change over the
lifespan. Our program of research currently encompasses three
ongoing studies, one focused on autism, another on schizophrenia,
and a third on families of color. Previous studies have been
directed at other developmental disabilities, such as Down syndrome
and mental retardation, or other severe mental illnesses.
Families who have a member with a disability face unique challenges
and have special needs. Very little research has examined the daily
life of these families, their profiles of resilience and
vulnerability, or the resources, supports, and services that sustain
their ability to provide lifelong care to their family member with
the disability. An additional focus of our work emanates from the
limited understanding of how the symptoms of various disabilities
change over the life course and the impacts on families of these
changes in symptoms and needs. The lack of research on these issues
is particularly acute with respect to life course transitions, such
as the transition to adulthood or the move out of the parental home
to non-family living, and with in planning for the future after the
parents are no longer able to be primary caregivers.
It is critical to gain an understanding of these factors in order to
develop adequate social policy, service and intervention programs,
and family supports. In addition, studies of these families provide
an excellent opportunity to extend and sharpen basic social and
behavioral science theories and hypotheses regarding stress and
coping processes, the effects of multiple roles, life course
development, and ethnicity and caregiving.
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