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Community Psychology at the Crossroads: Prospects for Interdisciplinary Research

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
American Journal of Community Psychology

Abstract

Effective engagement in interdisciplinary work is critical if community psychology is to achieve its promise as a field of ecological inquiry and social action. The purpose of this paper and special issue is to help make the benefits of interdisciplinary community research clearer and to identify and begin to address its challenges. Although some areas of psychology (e.g., biological, cognitive and health) have made substantial interdisciplinary strides in recent decades, progress in community psychology (and related areas) is more modest. In this article we explore the prospects for expanding and improving interdisciplinary community research. Challenges include designs, measures, and analytical frameworks that integrate multiple levels of analysis from individuals through families, organizations, and communities to policy jurisdictions, and the complexities involved in simultaneously bringing together multiple disciplinary collaborators and community partners. Challenges to interdisciplinary collaboration common to all disciplines include the disciplinary nature of academic culture and reward structures, limited funding for interdisciplinary work and uncertainties related to professional identity and marketability. Overcoming these challenges requires a synergy among facilitative factors at the levels of the interdisciplinary project team (e.g., the framing question; embedded relationships; leadership), the investigators (e.g., commitment to new learning; time to invest), and the external context (e.g., physical, administrative, economic and intellectual resources and support for interdisciplinary work). We conclude by identifying several exemplars of effective interdisciplinary collaborations and concrete steps our field can take to enhance our development as a vibrant community-based, multilevel discipline increasingly devoted to interdisciplinary inquiry and action.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are appreciative of the many valuable contributions to this paper provided by the other members of the Society for Community Research and Action Task Force, David G. Altman, Lorraine Gutierrez, James G. Kelly, Julian Rappaport.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychology Department, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, 21250, USA

    Kenneth I. Maton

  2. Human and Organizational Development, Vanderbilt University, Peabody #90, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, TN, 37203-5721, USA

    Douglas D. Perkins

  3. The Graduate Center, Environmental Psychology, City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, USA

    Susan Saegert

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  1. Kenneth I. Maton
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  2. Douglas D. Perkins
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  3. Susan Saegert
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Correspondence to Kenneth I. Maton.

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Maton, K.I., Perkins, D.D. & Saegert, S. Community Psychology at the Crossroads: Prospects for Interdisciplinary Research. Am J Community Psychol 38, 9–21 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-006-9062-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-006-9062-3

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