Cross-Cultural Research Team: Project Descriptions

Current Project Descriptions

Jamaican-Korean Study: This study compared women from two nations, Korea, a country that supports women's dependence, submissiveness, obedience, and inexpressiveness, and Jamaica, a nation where women are independent and expressive. The main goal of the study was to test whether Korean women report higher overall problem scores and problems associated with anxiety and somatization. The SAS dataset is sasuser.jamkor. This paper has been submitted for publication. Abstract.

Direct Observation Study: Under the leadership of Marieva, undergraduate and graduate assistants observed and rated the behavior of children in Jamaica and African American children in Michigan. These data have been analyzed and will be presented at the Kansas conference in October and submitted to a journal soon after. The SAS data sets are sasuser.obsjam and sasuser.obsus. Program files can be found on SAM in C:\Data\DOF.

Michigan Youth Project: This project focuses on the development of a valid, culturally sensitive instrument to detect the emotional and behavioral problems, and competencies, of African American children and adolescents. Four versions of this measure have been developed: a youth self-report for ages 11-18, a youth self-report for ages 5-10, a parent report form, and a teacher report form. Currently, we are in the process of standardizing these instruments on both clinic-referred and school children from around Michigan. Undergraduate involvement in the project includes interviewing school and clinic children, data management, and data entry. Abstract. Detailed Description. African American Instrument Development.

Jamaican Child Psychopathology Study: Measures (CBCL, FACES, BSI) were administered to 700 Jamaican children and adolescents, and their families. Data collection is still ongoing with a goal of 2,000 subjects. There are two main goals of this study. The first goal is to standardize the Jamaican version of the parent, teacher, self report forms of CBCL, while the second goal is to determine how family and parent psychopathology predict problems in Jamaican children. Undergraduate involvement in this project may include data management, data analysis, and data entry as well as assisting with poster presentations and papers. Detailed Description.

Alexithymia Study: Alexiathymia is "the inability to express feelings verbally." Data looking at this dysfunction and related variables has been collected on over 500 Jamaican men and women. Undergraduate involvement may include data analysis and assisting with posters and papers. Detailed Description.

Jamaican Competency Study: This project focuses on examining the competency items of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) for nonreferred Jamaican children ages 4-18. Valarie and Mikhail are currently analyzing these data (sasuser.alljam5). Undergraduate involvement on this project will be minimal but may include literature reviews and assisting with posters or papers.

Jamaican Attitudes Study: Using data from focus groups and from Adult Clinics the measures, Jamaican Adult Self Report and Jamaican Adult Third Party Report were created. Symptom Checklist - 90 codes were used to compare the data from the Jamaican Adult Clinics with a similar measure of Adult Psychopathology used in the United States. For the next part of the project, we plan to use the new instruments to collect data looking at several different aspects of mental illness in Jamaicans including behavioral and emotional problems, help-seeking behavior for psychological services, and attitudes toward people with psychopathology. Data collection should begin in October of 1998 in Jamaica. Detailed Description.

Jamaican Iron Study: For this study, longitudinal data was collected on both iron deficient and non-iron deficient Jamaican children. Among other things, we are interested if iron deficient children given iron supplements show improvement in behavior and intellectual functioning. Other projects currently underway using this data include examining the factor structures of measures (i.e. Conners Rating Scale, BSI, FACES) in this Jamaican sample and investigating the relationship between maternal depression, child aggression, and family environment. Undergraduate involvement may include data analysis and assistance with poster presentations and papers. Detailed Description.

Low Birth Weight Study: Longitudinal data is being collected on 115 very low birthweight Jamaican children, along with close to 2,000 same-age normal birthweight children. Data includes variables looking at prenatal maternal health and nutrition and child behavior, aggression, exposure to violence, IQ, achievement, nutrition, and growth and development. Valarie will head this project and use these data as part of her dissertation. Undergraduate involvement may include data management, data analysis, and literature reviews.

Dominican Republic Study: This study looks at archival clinic record data of children of African descent from the Dominican Republic. In the future, this data may be compared to similar data on children from Jamaica and Michigan. Cosette is currently heading this project. Detailed Description.

Graduate/Undergraduate Projects: In addition to the above, both graduate and undergraduate students are working on their own research. Past graduate research included a study examining the personality structure of Puerto Rican college students, while undergraduate projects have included a cross-cultural comparison of Korean and U.S. women and a study of drug use among African American high school students. All of the above, as well as several other student projects have been presented at professional conferences and submitted to psychology journals.