Addressing Community Problems: Psychological Research and Interventions

Problems in community life are among the most distressing and troublesome aspects of our modern society, yet psychology as a field has given them relatively little attention. The great bulk of psychological practice and research is directed at individual psychological problems and the difficulties in dyadic relationships. However, community problems arguably are broader and more important because to a large degree they affect us allùyoung and old, rich and poor, male and female, and majority and minority group members. In this new volume from the Claremont Symposium on Applied Social Psychology, contributors examine one or more pressing community problemsùhomelessness, racism, delinquency, alcoholism, violence, unemployment, workplace healthùfrom a social psychological perspective as well as a clinical one. The contributorsùall leaders in their fieldsùthen present the results of their empirical research. An ideal supplement for courses in community psychology, Addressing Community Problems is ideal for academics and students in the fields of social psychology, clinical and counseling psychology, social work, gender studies, sociology, and public health.

Ximena Arriaga is currently an Associate Professor of Psychological Sciences at Purdue University. Her doctoral degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is in Social Psychology, with minors in Quantitative Psychology and Developmental Science. Her primary areas of research are relationship commitment, uncertainty, and partner aggression. She also does some research on family functioning among Latinos. Her research has been funded by NIMH and contributes to the relationships and intimate partner violence literatures. She has served as an Associated Editor or Consulting Editor for Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, and Personal Relationships. Dr. Arriaga has received several teaching awards

Stuart Oskamp (Ph.D., Stanford University) has focused his research interests in the areas of attitudes and attitude change, applied social psychology, behavioral aspects of energy and resource conservation, and social issues and public policy. His books include Attitudes and Opinions and Applied Social Psychology. He has been elected a member of the American Psychological Association (APA) Council of Representatives and President of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) and of the APA Division of Population and Environmental Psychology. He has also served as editor of the Journal of Social Issues and of the Applied Social Psychology Annual. Since 1984 he has organized the Claremont Symposium on Applied Social Psychology and co-edited the resulting annual volume published for many years by Sage Publications and now published by Erlbaum.