Research Project Description
Interested in how couples interact in everyday life? Curious about how marital support influences health and well-being? Enjoy watching reality TV? This study of naturalistic marital support uses a really interesting and novel dataset of videotaped family interactions that were filmed in families’ homes as they went about their everyday lives. We are studying what these supportive interactions look like in the real-world, outside of what researchers have found in laboratory studies, and investigating the linkages between naturalistic support, marital satisfaction, health, and well-being. RAs will receive mentored training in naturalistic observational research methods in a friendly research group headed by a clinical graduate student (Shu-wen Wang, M.A.) working with Professor Rena Repetti. The project provides excellent exposure to couples research at the intersection of clinical, social, and health psychology.
RA Responsibilities
RAs’ main responsibility is to code marital support interactions. There is also some light data management that accompanies the coding efforts. All RAs are expected to devote 8 hours per week to the project, that consist of approximately: 5 hours of coding, 2 hours of partner meeting, 1 hour of team meeting. RA hours are fairly flexible. You are required to attend a scheduled 1 hour team meeting (for Summer Session C, this has been scheduled for Wednesdays 1:15-2:15), but your own coding is completed on your own schedule and your partner meetings are flexibly scheduled with your partner.
Who Should Apply
1. No prior research experience is necessary, but potential RAs must be dedicated, motivated, responsible, and enthusiastic about gaining research experience.
2. You must be able to commit Summer Session C, Fall 2010, and Winter 2011 to working on the study. This means a continued 8 hour weekly commitment. I CANNOT replace RAs part-way through the study so your ability to make this commitment is critical.
3. You may receive research units OR volunteer as an RA.
How to Apply
Interested applicants should email Shu-wen Wang, M.A., at shuwenwang[at]ucla.edu with a resume and DPR. We will schedule a very brief interview, and we will begin training starting Summer Session C.
