Dr. Julia Malia

Associate Professor

Family stress is my main research interest. One specialized topic of my family stress research is in-law bonding or failure to bond (mothers- and daughters-in-law as resources and as stressor for each other). Another is family rituals and the roles they play during life transitions (e.g., adolescents’ rites of passage). Other work has focused on family and community conflicts; differences in the stress process in balanced, midrange, and extreme families; using Brief Counseling in secondary schools; using a family life cycle approach to alcohol abuse prevention and treatment; studying women who sexually abuse children; and examining university students’ dating and drinking patterns.

Presentations at National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) annual conferences, the NCFR Theory Construction and Research Methodology Workshop, the Groves Conference on Marriage and Family, and the American Association for Counseling and Development have covered topics such as Celtic families in diaspora, gender in family stress processes, and transgenerational sexual and affectional expression issues in family-of-origin work.

I have been an active volunteer mediator specializing in family mediation and juvenile court mediation through Knoxville’s Community Mediation Center for 16 years. I worked for 9 years as a substance abuse prevention specialist and co-director of Helping Services for Northeast Iowa, Inc.

At UT, I have served as a Faculty Ombudsperson for more than 2 years and have been active in the University Faculty Senate, the University Faculty Affairs Committee, the Women’s Studies Advisory Board, and the Commission for Women.

Recent Publications

Mbito, M. N., & Malia, J. A. (2008). Transfer of the Kenyan Kikuyu male circumcision ritual to future generations living in the United States. Journal of Adolescence. In press, corrected proof available online 21 February 2008.

Malia, J. A. (2007, but published as Fall 2006 online edition). Women’s roles and strengths in times of family and community stress. Oxford Roundtable Forum on Public Policy, www.forumonpublicpolicy.com/papersf06.html (Women’s Rights section).

Malia, J. A. (2007). A reader’s guide to family stress literature. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 12(3), 223-243.

Malia, J. A. (2007). Basic concepts and models of family stress. Stress, Trauma & Crisis: An International Journal, 9(3/4), 141-160.

Garrison, M. E., & Malia, J. A. (2006). The Family Health Status Inventory: Development, reliability, and validity. Stress, Trauma & Crisis: An International Journal, 9(3/4), 175-186.

Invited Papers Presented at Professional Meetings

Malia, J. A. (2006). Women’s roles and strengths in times of family and community stress.
A paper presented at the Oxford Round Table on Women’s Rights at Harris Manchester College in the University of Oxford, Oxford, England, on March 22.

Malia, J. A., with Malia, S. E. C. (2005). Are American women at a disadvantage in mediated divorces? A paper presented at the Oxford Round Table on Women’s Rights at Lincoln College in the University of Oxford, Oxford, England, on March 21.

A Recent Research Paper Presented at a Professional Meeting

Malia, J. A. (2008). The impact of Celtic families on globalization. A paper presented at the 74th Annual Groves Conference on Marriage and Family in Galway, Ireland, on June 1, 2008.

Contact Information

1215 W. Cumberland Ave
419 Jessie Harris Building
Knoxville, TN 37996-1912

Phone: 865-974-6292
Email: jmalia@utk.edu

Contact CEHHS

335 Claxton Complex 1122 Volunteer Boulevard
Knoxville, Tennessee 37996

Phone: 865-974-2201
Fax: 865-974-8718