Gail Ferguson, a professor of human development and family studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will discuss her research Wednesday on the culture and adjustment of Jamaican youth and parents in the United States, and the implication for Jamaican families in Canada.

Ferguson’s talk will take place Oct. 24, from noon to 2pm, at 163 Behavioural Science Building, Keele campus. The event, sponsored by the LaMarsh Centre for Child & Youth Research, is open to everyone, but an RSVP is requested.

A Jamaican-born psychologist who researches the identity and well-being of Caribbean youth, a major aim of Ferguson’s research is to identify protective factors for the positive development of Caribbean youth and families across the diaspora.

Ferguson, a professor in the Department of Human & Community Development, will share findings from her most recent research project, The Culture and Family Life Study, which investigated the culture and adjustment of Jamaican immigrant adolescents and parents living in the United States, compared with Jamaican families on the island and native-born American families in the US.

Her work has been published in leading regional and international journals including the Caribbean Journal of Psychology, Child Development and the International Journal of Behavioral Development. In 2007, Ferguson was invited by the Ottawa television program “Caribbean Calendar” to deliver a seminar on youth well-being to the local Jamaican community, an event which was later broadcast.

To RSVP, e-mail lamarsh@yorku.ca. For more information, visit the LaMarsh Centre for Child & Youth Research website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– York University’s daily e-bulletin to research stories on the research website.