The National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) is proud to recognize Kristin Turney, Ph.D., and Naomi F. Sugie, Ph.D., as the 2022 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. In 2021, their research article, “Connecting Models of Family Stress to Inequality: Parental Arrest and Family Life,” was published in the Journal of Marriage and Family.

The review committee noted that Dr. Turney and Dr. Sugie did an outstanding job of contributing to family theory by demonstrating that exposure to family stress is differential based on social position, highlighting inequality in experiences and outcomes as it pertains to stressors. This research suggests how the family stress model can explain social inequality between families.

Dr. Turney is co-graduate director and dean’s professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine. Her research focuses on the consequences of stressors on families and children, and the role it has in exacerbating, constructing, and maintaining social inequalities. She integrates both qualitative and quantitative methods in her research examining the intersection of families, mass incarceration, and health. Her research has been funded by many organizations including Arnold Ventures, the Council on Library and Information Resources, the Foundation for Child Development, the National Science Foundation, and the William T. Grant Foundation. Turney holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Sugie is an associate professor of criminology, law & society in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine. Her research critically examines the consequences that incarceration and other forms of criminal justice contact have on individuals and their loved ones from several methodological approaches. Dr. Sugie has also studied the ramifications of re-entry for social members released from the prison system as it particularly pertains to employability and voting rights. Her research is published in flagship journals in sociology, criminology, and demography, and has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Justice, and National Science Foundation. Sugie holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University in sociology and social policy.

Together, Dr. Turney and Dr. Sugie are working to bring greater transparency to the conditions inside jails and prisons through the founding of a digital archive, PrisonPandemic. This initiative collects stories from incarcerated individuals and their loved ones, as well as prison staff, to highlight the stressors this system has on families.

This 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. Turney and Dr. Sugie were recognized for their achievement at the 2022 NCFR Annual Conference.

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.