Research

The Familee Research Team is directed by Dr. Richard M Lee, Professor of Psychology, at the University of Minnesota. We are interested in the ways in which race, ethnicity, and migration relate to the development, well-being, and mental health of individuals and families from diverse cultural backgrounds. Much of this work has been with diverse Asian American populations, but the team is expanding to study many different minoritized and immigrant populations. Although Dr. Lee and most graduate students are trained in counseling psychology, the research draws heavily from the fields of developmental science, family studies, cultural psychology and diversity science, ethnic studies, and critical race theory.

Most all research projects are currently led by graduate students, some by advanced undergraduate students, and just a few studies directly by Dr. Lee. The Familee Research Team works as a collaborative research group in which few studies are individually driven. We also have ongoing collaborations with colleagues at other universities in the United States and around the world. Increasingly, we are incorporating open-science practices into our research.

1) Individual and cultural differences – We seek to advance theory and measurement of culture-specific psychological constructs, including ethnic/racial identity, perceived discrimination, culture-specific parenting, and intergenerational parent-child conflicts, as well as more general traits, including regulatory focus, mental health literacy/stigma, and family mental health stigma.

Dr. Lee continues to conduct research on the theory and measurement of social connectedness which he began as a graduate student, including the development, revisions, and validation of the Social Connectedness Scale which has been translated into more than a dozen languages and used around the world.

Current or Recent Projects

• Development and validation of a measure on diaspora identity in different migrant populations.
• Understanding how Asian Americans perceive and respond to discriminatory events.
• Family ethnic/racial socialization processes and youth adjustment in mono-racial, transracial, and multi-racial families.
• Understanding the Muslim experience as the intersection of religious and ethnic identity.
• Measurement and validation of birth family thoughts for adoptees.
• Understanding how Asian Americans in interracial relationships understand and navigate ethnic and racial differences.
• Measurement and validation of ingenio among Mexicans/Mexican Americans as a cultural value and asset.
• Collaboration to develop a measure of parent motivations and approaches to raising their children. 
• The interplay between puberty, racialized experiences, and health.
• Measurement invariance and revision of the Social Connectedness Scale.

2) Migration and adaptation – Broadly speaking, we are interested in the diaspora experiences of individuals and groups who have been displaced from their homelands, including refugees, adoptees, and other migrant groups (e.g., international students). We have a particular interest in the transracial and transnational life experiences of children, youth and adults adopted internationally from South Korea and raised in White families and communities. We specifically examine how adopted individuals and their families negotiate racial and ethnic differences, work through questions around birth family, adoption and culture, and develop coherent and affirming identities and healthy, positive relationships.

Current or Recent Projects

• 12-year, three-wave longitudinal study on more than 100 Korean adoptee families who completed parent surveys in 2007 and parent and adolescent surveys in 2014. We are completing data collection on the 12-year follow-up study on these adoptees who are now young adults. We also have cross-sectional survey data from over 500 adoptive parents that was collected in 2007.
• Cross-sectional survey, mixed-method, and qualitative interview data on adopted Korean American adults to understand their diverse and unique experiences as Korean adoptees and as parents of multiracial children.
• Comparing Korean American domestic students and Korean international students at colleges/universities on racial composition of friendships, experiences of discrimination, and adjustment.
• Investigating attitudes toward genetic testing among international adoptive family members and its role in finding birth family and identity development.
• Intergenerational trauma and communication among immigrant and refugee families and youth.
• Investigating how direct-to-consumer ancestry genetic testing can be used to find birth family and promote ethnic identity development.
• In collaboration with Dr. Peter Titzmann at Hannover University in Germany, conceptualizing and measuring acculturation processes over time.

3) Prevention science – We develop, tailor, and implement evidence-based prevention programs to improve the well-being of individuals, families, and organizations. We also investigate factors that facilitate or act as barriers to seeking health care services (e.g., health literacy, family mental health stigma). Some of this work is done in conjunction with the UMN Center for Personalized Prevention Research in Children’s Mental Health which is housed within the Institute for Translational Research in Children’s Mental Health.

Current or Recent Projects

• Community-based participatory research on adapting and implementing parent-training programs for racial and ethnic minority families. This project was a collaboration with the Wilder Foundation in St. Paul. The study is no longer active and we are now publishing papers using this data.
• Collaboration with Dr. Alisha Wackerle-Hollman to develop and evaluate a brief parent engagement intervention to increase parent motivation and participation in parent training programs. The study is paused until more funding is secured and we are now publishing papers using this data.
• Understanding the role of health literacy and stigma in mental health and mental health care utilization.
• Collaboration with Center for WorkLife Law at UC Hastings College of Law and researchers in organizational behavior to develop and validate a measure of workplace bias climate that can be used to evaluate bias-reduction interventions.  Learn more here.
• Collaboration with Dr. Linda Juang at Potsdam University (Germany) and Dr. Peter Titzmann at Hannover University (Germany) to investigate the adaptation and adjustment of Syrian refugees in Germany. This is a pilot project currently on hold as we seek more funding.