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.
Dr. Barnett will be accepting new graduate students for the 2025-2026 academic year.
- Caregiver relationships and early childhood development
- Poverty and child and parent wellbeing
- Parenting and coparenting
- Grandparent-grandchild relationships
Broadly, my research program considers how individual, family and contextual (e.g., poverty, rurality) characteristics 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
Grandparenting In Multigenerational Family Systems
The goal of this work is to understand the experiences and wellbeing of grandparents who are highly involved in raising their grandchildren. We engage in a variety of activities, including primary data collection and secondary data analysis. We consider how intergenerational relationships and complex family dynamics and contextual characteristics are associated with health and wellbeing among grandparents, grandchildren and parents. Collaborators include Loriena Yancura (University of Hawaii).
Family Relationships and Child Development Among Low-Income, Unmarried Families
We are engaged in a series of secondary data analysis projects related to identifying sources of risk and resilience across the transition to parenthood for 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 and Family Science, UA) and current and former graduate students.
Caregiving Experiences of Toddlers Across Contexts: Parent-Child and Teacher-Child Relationship Quality in Early Head Start
This secondary data analysis project focuses on identifying matches or mismatches between the quality of relationships toddlers experience with their caregivers at home and with their teachers in Early Head Start classrooms. We consider child, family, teacher and child care center characteristics that influence relationship quality combinations across these two critical contexts This project is funded by the Administration for Children and Families. Collaborators include Caroline Black (Northern Arizona University).
- Men, Fatherhood and Families (undergraduate)
- Infant and Child Development (undergraduate)
- Theories of Human Development (graduate)
- Poverty & Families (graduate)
- Child & Family Policy (graduate)
Please see the CV for a complete list of publications. Also see Dr. Barnett's Google Scholar profile.