Ph.D.,Bowling Green StateUniversity, 1982 Professor Member, Clinical Psychology Program ffloyd@gsu.edu 404-413-6271 754 Urban Life

My research examines children, families, and couples, and the relationships within and between family subsystems. It addresses both how families function as interpersonal systems and how family relationships affect the adjustment and well-being of the individuals in the family. The research emphasizes the observation of marital and family interaction processes, and examines both normative family processes and the effects of non-normative experiences.

Currently, I am engaged in three longitudinal investigations of adaptation in families of children with mental retardation and other disabilities, funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the National Institute on Aging (NIA). The goal of this work is to understand how family interactions and family relationships are influenced by raising a child who has disabilities, and how family adaptation influences the psychosocial adjustment of the child and the well-being of all family members. These investigations include a 12-year follow-up to evaluate long-term outcomes for children with disabilities and their families, a new longitudinal investigation at two sites in Atlanta and in North Carolina that examines linkages between family and peer relationships in late childhood, and a study of the life-course effects of non-normative parenting experiences using an existing longitudinal data set, the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), to examine development in educational, occupational, parental, and marital roles from age 18 though the early 60’s.

Other areas of research include the assessment, treatment and prevention of relationship dysfunction and marital distress, family relationships and identity development for gay and lesbian youths, stress and coping in African-American couples, and the development and refinement of observational and questionnaire methods of assessment.

Recent Publications

Floyd, F. J., & Bakeman, R. (2006). Coming-out across the life course: Implications of age and historical context. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 35, 287-296. 

Floyd, F. J., Cranford, J. A., Daugherty, M. K., Fitzgerald, H. E., & Zucker, R. A. (2006). Marital interaction in alcoholic and nonalcoholic couples: Alcoholic subtype variations and wives’ alcoholism status. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 115, 121-130. 

Kelly, S., & Floyd, F. J. (2006). Impact of racial perspectives and contextual variables on marital trust and adjustment for African American couples. Journal of Family Psychology, 20, 79-87. 

Seltzer, M. M., Floyd, F. J., Greenberg, J., Lounds, J., Lindstrom, M., & Hong, J. (2005). Life course impacts of mild intellectual deficits. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 110, 451-468. 

Floyd, F. J., Harter, K. S. M., & Costigan, C. L. (2004).  Family problem solving with children who have mental retardation. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 109, 507-524.