Research Overview
Professor Tulagan will be accepting applications for graduate students for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Professor Tulagan’s (he/him/his) primary research examines the family factors that contribute to the development of academic motivation and achievement of adolescents from racially/ethnically minoritized backgrounds. This work addresses three interrelated questions. First, in what ways do family socializers (i.e., parents, siblings, and extended relatives) use their cultural funds of knowledge to support adolescents in their academic development? Second, in what ways are families developmentally responsive to youths’ academic and psychological needs and barriers during adolescence? Third, under what conditions do family academic support most strongly predict adolescents’ academic motivation and achievement?
Professor Tulagan’s secondary research also examines the family socialization processes involved in adolescents’ gender and racial/ethnic identity development and socioemotional learning. With these aims, his research examines the ways in which families integrate multiple, co-occurring socialization processes to support adolescents’ overall flourishing.
Professor Tulagan uses strength-based and promotive theoretical frameworks that highlight the cultural assets that minoritized families possess but are often disregarded by deficit-based research. Aligned with this commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, he has also partnered with local communities and academic programs to deliver research-based and family-informed workshops that aim to enhance parents’ educational support at home.
Visit the FAM&I Lab website to learn more.