Melissa A. Barnett, Ph.D.
McClelland Park Room 235D
650 N Park Ave
Tucson, Arizona 85721-0078
Documents
My research is motivated by my experiences as an elementary school teacher in an economically disadvantaged community. My students and their families inspired me to conduct research focused on informing the development of interventions and policies to support positive child development in marginalized low-income communities. In particular, I was struck by the resilient outcomes of some students who thrived despite the odds, and by the extensive involvement of multiple family members in the lives of young children. My goal is to understand how to leverage these strengths to conduct research to inform policy and program development that ultimately improves the life chances of caregivers and young children from economically disadvantaged communities. In addition, I am interested in understanding how context shapes parenting, family relationships, and child development.
Broadly, my research program considers how individual characteristics and larger cultural and socioeconomic contexts influence caregiver well-being, parenting and coparenting behaviors, early teacher-child relationships, and early childhood development. My focus is on identification of family strengths among disadvantaged families.
Specifically, my research focuses on understanding how caregivers, including parents, support network members, grandmothers and teachers, influence young children directly through interactions with children, and indirectly through relationships with each other. Considering other family members or adults who play significant support and caregiving roles is especially relevant to child development in disadvantaged and minoritized communities.
https://fmi.arizona.edu/faculty-research-labs/barnett-research-lab
- Research Methods (undergraduate)
- Men, Fatherhood and Families (undergraduate)
- Infant and Child Development (undergraduate)
- Theories of Human Development (graduate)
- Child & Family Policy (graduate)
- Poverty & Families (graduate)
Through the Pandemic and Beyond: Evolving Access and Equity in Child Care for Arizona's Infants and Toddlers. This mixed-methods multi-year project focuses on identifying factors associated with variability in access to child care for infants and toddlers across the state of Arizona. The study is funded by the Administration for Children and Families. Collaborators include Madeleine DeBlois, Kara Haberstock-Tanoue and Rachel Leih from the Community Research Evaluation and Development (CRED) team in the Frances McClelland Institute.
Caregiving Experiences of Toddlers Across Contexts: Patterns of Parent-Child and Teacher-Child Relationship Quality in Early Head Start. This secondary data analysis project, which examines patterns in the quality of relationships toddlers engage in at home and in Early Head Start Centers, was funded by the Administration for Children and Families. Collaborators include Caroline Black (Northern Arizona University).
Family Relationships and Child Development Among Low-Income, Unmarried Families. We are currently engaged in a series of projects related to secondary data analysis of the Building Strong Families project, a large national study across the transition to parenthood of predominantly low-income, unmarried couples. The focus of these projects include fathers' parenting, understanding how family and contextual factors influence young children's development, and examination of how the quality of multiple family relationships (e.g., parenting, coparenting, parental romantic relationships) jointly impact adult and child wellbeing. Collaborators include Melissa Curran (Human Development & Family Science, UA) and current and former graduate students.
Grandparenting In Family Contexts. The goal of this series of projects is to understand the experiences, family relationships and wellbeing of grandparents who are highly involved in raising their grandchildren. Collaborators are Loriena Yancura (University of Hawaii).
- Caregiver relationships and early childhood development
- Poverty and child and parent wellbeing
- Contextual influences on parenting and child development
- Grandparent-grandchild relationships
Please see the CV for a complete list of publications. Also see Dr. Barnett's Google Scholar profile.