Faculty Research

Joan H. Benedict:
         Providing developmentally appropriate, high-quality infant/toddler child care is a major concern in the United States and other countries in the world. Dr. Benedict is involved with co-investigator Sarah Pierce in the "Baton Rouge Early Care Study." One aspect of the study is "continuity of care" and is focused on the implementation of continuity of care practices in local child care centers.

         Dr. Benedict is also exploring the social interactions of Pre-K children in inclusive settings. Her co-investigator is Cyndi DiCarlo. The research team is focusing on the interactions between children (typically developing and children with special needs) and between the children and their classroom teachers who are trained in regular education.
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Cyndi DiCarlo:
         Dr. DiCarlo's research is centered on providing developmentally appropriate, high-quality services to children with identified special needs in inclusive environments. Dr. DiCarlo is evaluating the use of preference assessment technology, choice, and adult prompt sequences as a means to improve outcomes for children with identified special needs. She is also working with Joan Benedict on the social interactions of children with special needs in inclusive pre-k settings.
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Betsy Garrison:
         As a social scientist, Dr. Garrison studies family stress and coping. She has been involved with several family stress research projects, including two multi-state research projects supported by the federal Cooperative State Research Education and Extension Service . In the last several years, Dr. Garrison has extended her research to include families with elementary school aged-children, an understudied age of childhood, for which she was awarded a multi-year extramural grant from the Louisiana Board of Regents. Dr. Garrison has authored or co-authored more than 40 research publications and last year she received the Faculty Research Award in the School of Human Ecology . Along with colleagues at other universities, she has two published assessments of family stress, the Family Daily Hassles Inventory and the Family Health Status Inventory . Currently she is guest editing a special issue on "Stress and the Family" for Stress, Trauma, and Crisis: An International Journal. Recently she has turned her attention to the study of family resiliency and natural and unnatural disasters. She is particularly interested in families' perceptions of the immediate and long term effects of their coping efforts from an ecological perspective that includes individual, family and community-level resources and barriers. Dr. Garrison is also the Graduate Coordinator in the School of Human Ecology . In this role, she works with MS and PhD students from all areas of Human Ecology: Family, child and consumer sciences, human nutrition and food, and textiles, apparel and merchandising. These areas represent scholarship in the social, natural, and physical sciences, including engineering, and are typically multi-disciplinary in nature.
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Frances Lawrence:
         The changing structure of agriculture has affected the viability of rural communities and rural residents' quality of life. Communities in rural areas are encouraged to expand their economic bases and develop local workforces that meet local and regional employers' needs. However, high levels of poverty are a barrier to workforce and economic development. Dr. Lawrence is participating in a 14-state, longitudinal study and is examining a wide range of impacts and issues related to welfare reform from the perspectives of rural low-income families. The data suggest that families had difficulty making ends meet and are living in-crisis or at-risk of economic inadequacy. This is true of those married or living with a partner as well as those without partners though incomes are lower for single mothers. If the weakening economy continues, the families face the likelihood of further diminished income. They received an array of assistance from extended families to the government; yet, many who were eligible were not receiving some benefits-especially food stamps. Policy statements have been developed and research findings have been presented at many conferences, including Children, Youth, and Families at Risk Conferences, Eastern Family Economics-Resource Management Association Conference, and American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Annual Conference.
         The current research helps to document the impact that welfare reform has had on rural families, within the community context, and across states. The findings provide insights to agencies and policy makers as they adjust welfare policies to enhance rural family functioning within their rural communities. It appears that until more families have employed members, and more who are employed receive higher wages and benefits, it is not feasible that these families will become economically self-sufficient. The data immediately contribute to the debate about public assistance as Congress reauthorizes relevant legislation in 2003.
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Loren D. Marks:
         Dr. Marks is conducting a national qualitative research project involving in-depth interviews with over 100 families. His research examines parent-child relationships, family stress and coping, and the influence of religion in families. His recent work appears in influential volumes including Handbook of Contemporary Families, Handbook of Dynamics in Parent-Child Relationships, and Sourcebook of Family Theory and Research ; and journals including Fathering, Family Process, Journal of Social and Personal Relationships , and Journal of Family Psychotherapy.
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