Commentary: Increasing Cultural Diversity in Pediatric Psychology Family Assessment Research

The clinical and validation studies published in this issue are very timely, as they continue to refine theoretical models and evidence-based family assessment measures for vulnerable pediatric chronic populations. The studies in this issue individually and collectively advance our understanding of what predicts and informs parental and family outcomes across a number of pediatric chronic illness groups. These findings will also be critical to advancing family-based clinical practice and treatments for children with chronic illnesses (Alderfer et al., 2008; Kazak et al., 2007). In total, the articles increase the potential to include nontraditional families, use multi-method and validated assessment tools, and to integrate family measures with other assessment tools so that we can take a comprehensive approach to assessment in our work as pediatric psychologists. While this special issue of JPP advances our understanding of family assessment and processes related to pediatric conditions, it also reveals the continued need to improve cultural sensitivity in pediatric and family assessment (Alderfer et al., 2008; Shudy et al., 2006). This editorial will discuss the challenges and opportunities for enhancing diversity in pediatric psychology family assessment research, as well as the implications for how culturally sensitive family assessment informs clinical practice and research for culturally diverse populations (Clay, Mordhorst, & Lehn, 2002; Ochieng, 2003; Wood, 2005). Trends in publications confirm that the general pediatric family psychology and family assessment literature has increased over the past 25 years, most notably in the past 10 years when publication rates have more than doubled. Using JPP as the example to illustrate growth in trends over time, there will be more articles published on the topic of ‘‘family’’ in this issue than there were published on the topic of ‘‘family’’ in the year 1980 when there were total eight articles (and these numbers remained below 30 in most of the years in the 1980s). Much of the journal’s space focused nearly exclusively on childfocused articles with a behaviorally focused assessment and/or intervention. In contrast, when using ‘‘family’’ as a keyword in 2009, 118 articles were published in the journal, and in 2010, 77 such articles were published through the third quarter. When the key words were narrowed to ‘‘family assessment,’’ the number of published articles was 105 since 1980 and half of these 52 (50%) were published since 2003, highlighting the emerging trend to better integrate family assessment tools in pediatric research. Finally, when examining the number of articles with a ‘‘family assessment’’ and a ‘‘cultural’’ or ‘‘diversity’’ focus, the number of articles was fewer than five. This rate held true even when looking for articles written on specific racial or ethnic subgroups (e.g., using ‘‘family assessment’’ as a search term with ‘‘African American’’ or ‘‘Hispanic/Latino’’). While JPP offers a great context for making the case for why attention should now be given to diversity issues in the field, trends are likely to be similar in other journals and in the broader literature. With the publication of this issue, it is fitting to celebrate the evolution and progress of family assessment research in the field of pediatric psychology, while also acknowledging the gap that still remains in the family assessment literature with respect to cultural diversity. We have to find sensitive and valid methods and models for applying and translating family assessment concepts and