Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin, 1975 Associate Professor Member, Clinical Psychology Program gjurkovic@gsu.edu 1112 Urban Life 404-413-6278

To understand, treat, and prevent psychosocial problems of children and adolescents and their families, I have drawn from various models (cultural-ecological, family systems, and developmental) to integrate data and theory at multiple levels of analysis. My current interests along these lines focus on three interrelated areas: parentification, family traumatology, and community-based prevention/treatment programming.

Struck by the number of youngsters in my supervisees' and my own clinical work who were burdened with caretaking responsibilities in their families, a process referred to in the literature as parentification, I launched a research program with my students in this area. For example, we have found that individuals growing-up with substance-abusing or divorced parents are at greater risk for problematic forms of parentification than controls. In many cultures and subcultures, parentification is normative and legitimized. Under such conditions it is unlikely to have deleterious consequences unless other stressors are present. To test this and other hypotheses, my colleagues (Gabe Kuperminc, Julia Perilla, Art Murphy) and I, along with a group of dedicated students, are investigating parentification and school adjustment of immigrant Latino adolescents. We are also planning a cross-cultural study of parentification and its effects (both adaptive and maladaptive) in different countries (U.S., Mexico, and Italy).

We recently discovered that parentification plays a moderating role in the relation of sexual abuse to posttraumatic stress. These results have sparked my recent work in the area of family traumatology. I have formed a "Family Traumatology Team" whose mission is (1) to conduct basic and applied research from an ecosystemic perspective on various dimensions of family traumatology (e.g., child witnesses of violence, child maltreatment) and its prevention and treatment; (2) to provide education and training for undergraduate and graduate students in the area; (3) to offer consultation to institutions, agencies, and groups (e.g., schools, Boys/Girls Clubs) affected by trauma; and (4) to serve as an information and educational resource for the lay and professional community in family traumatology.

Representative Publications

Ash, P., Jurkovic, G. J., & Harrison, S.I. (1998). Assessment of decision-making capacity. In J. D. Noshpitz (Ed.), Basic handbook of child and adolescent psychiatry. Vol. 5. New York: Basic Books.

Berger, M., & Jurkovic, G. J. (Eds.). (1995). Practicing family therapy in diverse settings. New York: Guilford. (Originally published by Jossey-Bass, 1987.)

Goglia, L. R., Jurkovic, G. J., Burt, A. M., & Burge-Callaway, K. G. (1992).

Generational boundary distortions by adult children of alcoholics: Child-as-parent and child-as-mate. American Journal of Family Therapy, 20, 291-299.

Glickauf-Hughes, C., Foster, M., & Jurkovic, G.J. (1998). Fusion in couples: What Bowenian therapists can learn from their object-relations colleagues. Journal of Couples Therapy, 7, 21-32.

Gordon, D., Jurkovic, G. J., Arbuthnot, J. (1998). Treatment of juvenile offenders. In R. M. Wettstein (Ed.), Treatment of offenders with mental disorders. New York: Guilford.

Jurkovic, G. J. (1998). Destructive parentification in families: Causes and consequences. In L. L'Abate (Ed.), Handbook of family psychopathology. New York: Guilford.

Jurkovic, G. J. (1997). Lost childhoods: The plight of the parentified child. Philadelphia: Brunner/Mazel.

Jurkovic, G. J., Jessee, E. H., & Goglia, L. R. (1991). Treatment of parental children and their families: Conceptual and clinical issues. American Journal of Family Therapy, 19, 302-314.

Jurkovic, G. J., Morrell, R., & Thirkield, A. (1999). Assessment of childhood parentification: Guidelines for researchers and clinicians. In N. Chase (Ed.), Parentification: Theory, research, and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Levy, S. R., Jurkovic, G. J., & Spirito, A. (1995). A multi-systems analysis of adolescent suicide attempters. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 23, 221-234.

Frequently Taught Courses

Graduate

Seminar in Behavior Disorders
Couple Therapy
Therapy Practica (Family, Couple, Family Trauma)

Undergraduate

Abnormal Psychology
Psychology of Interpersonal Competence
Introduction to Psychology of Adjustment: A Personal Growth Course