The National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) is proud to recognize Elma I. Lorenzo-Blanco, Alan Meca, Brandy Piña-Watson, Byron L. Zamboanga, José Szapocznik, Miguel Ángel Cano, David Cordova, Jennifer B. Unger, Andrea Romero, Sabrina E. Des Rosiers, Daniel W. Soto, Juan A. Villamar, Monica Pattarroyo, Karina M. Lizzi, and Seth J. Schwartz as the 2020 recipients of the Reuben Hill Award, which is given to the author(s) of an outstanding article or book that combines theory and methodology to analyze and interpret a significant family issue.

Their article is titled “Longitudinal Trajectories of Family Functioning Among Recent Immigrant Adolescents and Parents: Links With Adolescent and Parent Cultural Stress, Emotional Well‐Being, and Behavioral Health.” It was published in Child Development in 2019.

The review committee found the study’s combination of a longitudinal design and the Family Stress Model applied to parent-adolescent dyads of recent Latino immigrants, made its conclusions about family functioning particularly robust.

First author Elma I. Lorenzo-Blanco, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. She earned her doctorate in clinical psychology & women's studies at the University of Michigan. Dr. Lorenzo-Blanco’s research investigates how issues related to culture, ethnicity, gender, family, and media come together to influence the health and well-being of Latino(a) youth and families in the U.S. and Latin American countries.

The award is given in memory of Reuben Hill, who had a distinguished career as a university professor and pioneered the scholarly study of family. Dr. Hill is remembered for his determination to promote high-quality research and advance theory about families with the intent of producing practical benefits for families.

Dr. Lorenzo-Blanco and her team were recognized for their achievement at a special Awards Ceremony during the 2020 NCFR Annual Conference on Friday, Nov. 13, 2020 at 5:15 – 6:15 p.m. CT.

The National Council on Family Relations is the premier professional association for the multidisciplinary understanding of families. NCFR has a membership of nearly 3,000 family researchers, practitioners and educators. For more information on the National Council on Family Relations or its scholarly publications, visit the NCFR website at ncfr.org.