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2007 IRSP Undergraduate Summer Research Interns
IRSP hosted 3 undergraduate research interns: Rava Chapman (Alabama State University), Rodolfo Cortes (UC Berkeley) and Zaneta Smith (Spelman College). Students lived on campus for eight weeks, worked with IRSP faculty, and presented their work at a research conference hosted by the UCLA Graduate Division.
Rava Chapman (Alabama State University)

I participated in the 2007 Summer Research for Undergraduates Program (SRUP) under the Interdisciplinary Relationship Science Program (IRSP). This was a great experience. It allowed me to develop more as a researcher and gave me some clinical experience as well. I was able to work with Professor Jeffery Wood on a project about parent-child relationship. I focused on parental intrusiveness. In addition to great research opportunities provided by this program, I was able to meet many people who I have remained in contact with. This was a great way to spend the summer.
Rava Chapman (left), from Alabama State, with IRSP Graduate Trainee Kathryn Brooks
Rodolfo Cortes (UC Berkeley)

It was a great honor to have interned at UCLA with Professor Sandra Graham. With the help of IRSP Graduate Affiliate Alice Ho, I analyzed the role of reciprocal friendship as a buffer against loneliness and social anxiety in a large ethnically diverse sample of urban sixth-graders. The findings will be presented at the Society for Research on Adolescence in 2008. In the future, we hope to turn the work into a publication.
Apart from the internship itself, IRSP afforded numerous networking opportunities. Notably, I met Professor Jeff Wood and proposed a follow-up study of the children from his earlier research. That study is getting underway and we are very excited. None of this could have been possible without IRSP; thus, I sincerely encourage any student interested in pursuing a Ph.D. in the relevant fields to apply to and choose IRSP.
Zaneta Smith (Spelman College)

My research this summer at UCLA was a valuable beginning to my interest in a research career. My faculty mentor, Dr. Tom Bradbury; my graduate mentor, Justin Lavner; Dr. Anne Peplau, Youssef, Natalya and other IRSP grad students were a big help in my journey of imagining what life will be like after I graduate from college. The various seminars and much needed support were helpful as this summer was my first experience with research. My mind has been expanded, my interests have been piqued, and my motivation is focused on a doctorate degree in my field. Thank you SPUR-IRSP.

My research this summer examined the intergenerational transmission of marital discord using a case study approach of a couple who participated in the UCLA Marriage and Family Development Project. By viewing the available data of videotaped laboratory interactions, audiotapes, and questionnaires, I gathered information on the couple. To some extent, their marital discord and divorce after 10 years of marriage may have been a product of marital discord and divorce in their parents’ marriage. My examination of 4 variables--parental divorce, aggression, parental religion, and communication -- suggested that these factors, along with interpersonal problems, may continue through generations and contribute to marital discord.