Department of Human & Community Development, University of Illinois

Aaron Ebata

 

 

 

 

 

Currculum vita (pdf)

Education

Ph.D. 1987, Pennsylvania State University, Human Development & Family Studies

M.S. 1983, Pennsylvania State University, Human Development & Family Studies

B.S. 1977, University of Hawaii, Biology & Psychology

Research Interest

Technological applications in outreach programs for children, youth, and families; parenting; stress and coping during childhood and adolescence; children with autism and their families; family life education.

My general interest is in developing and evaluating outreach programs for parents and professionals that provide support for families under stress. These stressors include the challenges of daily life, normative developmental changes, as well as non-normative changes and catastrophic events. As an Extension specialist, I am involved in conducting applied research, developing educational outreach programs for families, and providing training and resources for professionals who work with children, youth, and families. Previous efforts have included conducting research on the effects of natural disasters on children and families, and developing training and resources for parents, teachers, and counselors on helping children after disasters, and developing and evaluating a web-based program for parents that provides expert and peer support for coping with the stresses of childrearing. 

Current Programs and Projects

Parenting 24/7    http://parenting247.org
A “one-stop” resource for parents that includes research-based feature articles, breaking news, and commentary, streaming video clips, and electronic versions of newsletters to parents of children from birth through the teens. (launched 2005)

Just-in-Time Parenting
A federally funded collaborative project to develop, disseminate, and evaluate a national age-paced newsletter series for parents of infants and young children that will be available on the national extension website (extension.org).

Partnering with Parents
A five-year federally funded project that attempts to (1) promote positive parenting practices and information seeking among parents in 7 “high-risk” Illinois communities, and (2) enhance community capacity to support positive parenting in these communities.

The Autism Program: Champaign County

A state funded program collaborative project (with the Department of Special Education) that brings together, parents, schools, community agencies, health care providers, and private therapists to enhance services for children with autism and their families. The project has established a “first point of contact” and resource center, an orientation program for families with children who have been newly diagnosed with autism, and a social skills training program for adolescents.

Family Resiliency Resource Center (FRRC)
The FRRC houses a library of information for families and professionals, provides referrals to local services, and conducts educational programs for families and training workshops for professionals. The FRRC provides internship opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students.

Selected Publications

 

Dennis, S., & Ebata, A.T. (2005). Family life education on the technological frontier. In S.F. Duncan & H. W. Goddard (Eds.), Outreach in Family Life: Principles and Practices for Effective Family Life Outreach Education (pp. 180-219 ). Thousand Oaks , CA : Sage.

 

Wiley, A., & Ebata, A.T. (2004). Reaching American families: Making diversity real in Family Life Education. Family Relations , 53 , 273-281.

 

Hughes, R., Ebata, A.T., & Dollahite, D. (1999). Introduction: Family life in the

information age. Family Relations, 48 , 5-6.

 

Todd, C.M., Ebata, A.T., & Hughes, R., Jr. (1998). Making university and community collaborations work. In R.M. Lerner & L.A.K. Simmon (Eds.), Creating the new outreach university for America 's youth and families: Building university community collaborations for the twenty-first century (pp. 231-254). New York : Garland .

 

Ebata, A.T. (1996). Making University-Community collaborations work: challenges for institutions and individuals. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 6 , 71-79.

Ebata, A.T., & Moss, R.H. (1994). Personal and situational correlates of coping in adolescents. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 4 , 99-125.

Ebata, A.T., & Moss, R.H. (1991). Coping and adjustment in healthy and distressed adolescents. Journal of Applied Development Psychology, 12, 33-54.

Courses Taught

HDFS 561:   Child and Family Program Development