our research
what we study
The FAM&I Lab studies the experiences and development of historically, racially/ethnically minoritized adolescents and young adults in home and education contexts.
Our work addresses the following questions:
How do youth develop and make meaning of their achievement motivation, racial-ethnic identity, gender identity, and their intersections?
To what extent do families and cultural values support these developmental dimensions and protect youth against developmental risks like discrimination, socioeconomic disadvantage; and
the extent to which these youth and social factors predict youths' later educational and career choices and overall well-being (e.g., sense of autonomy, competence, and relatedness?)
our approaches
The FAM&I Lab focuses on strengths-based frameworks to highlight the cultural assets minoritized families and teens possess and to leverage these assets to promote positive youth development. We use culturally grounded models of family academic socialization to study expectancy-value motivation among Black and Latinx/e adolescents (e.g., Starr, Tulagan, & Simpkins, 2022), as well as the integrative model of minority child development (Garcia-Coll et al., 1996) and community cultural wealth model (Yosso, 2005).
Our work uses variable-centered and pattern-centered approaches. We focus on regression techniques, econometric models, and especially structural equation modeling (SEM). We use the SEM framework for psychometrics (factor analysis); complex, relational processes (including moderation); developmental change (latent growth curves); and pattern-centered approaches (latent profile analysis, latent transition analysis). Our studies also use in-depth, qualitative approaches (e.g., interviews), and we hope to integrate these methods in mixed-methods projects.
research projects
Flourishing in the Emerging Adulthood Transitions Study (FEATS)
This new research project includes our first studies at the University of Rochester!
Bridging across situated-expectancy value theory and the literature on racial/ethnic identity and gender identity processes, this research seeks to understand how emerging adults (18-29 years old) integrate and make meaning of their racial/ethnic and gender identities as they relate to their science motivational beliefs. We seek to test the extent to which this "identity-oriented motivational belief system" is distinct and uniquely contributes to students' career development and psychological flourishing above and beyond traditional measures of motivational beliefs and racial/ethnic and gender identity. We also examine the extent to which these integrated beliefs are conjointly supported by multiple socializers in students' lives, including the family system, peers, teachers, and social media.
FAmily Math Involvement for Latinx Youth Study (FAMILYS)
This project was awarded the National Science Foundation's SBE Postdoctoral Fellowship to Dr. Tulagan.
Leveraging Latinx parents' cultural funds of knowledge and challenging traditional models of parental involvement, this project aims to a) uncover a fuller set of mainstream and culturally grounded socialization strategies that Latinx parents use to help Latinx middle schoolers in math and b) examine the relations between parents' math support and adolescents' math motivational beliefs. We also examine how parents address adolescents' difficulties in math and parents' barriers to math support.
Academic and Talent Socialization of Black Adolescents (ATS-BA)
This project was awarded the National Science Foundation's SBE Postdoctoral Fellowship to Dr. Tulagan.
Leveraging Latinx parents' cultural funds of knowledge and challenging traditional models of parental involvement, this project aims to a) uncover a fuller set of mainstream and culturally grounded socialization strategies that Latinx parents use to help Latinx middle schoolers in math and b) examine the relations between parents' math support and adolescents' math motivational beliefs. We also examine how parents address adolescents' difficulties in math and parents' barriers to math support.