Family Studies Phd?

[priorities2]

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What do you know about the job opportunities for someone with a PhD in Family Studies? I'd want to teach, do research, and practice in this area.

 

[DrPablo]

You are looking at primarily working in academia with a Human Development and Family Science PhD. You would be eligible for positions in Human Development and Family Science departments, Family Sociology, or select Psychology positions. Some Human Development and Family Science programs have a clinical MFT program which can lead to becoming a psychotherapist. If you chose this track, you could also teach in clinical MFT programs and/or practice therapy.

You might like to read The Greening of Relationship Science in a 1999 issue of American Psychologist, 54, 260-266. This article does a good job describing the multidisciplinary approach of HDFS.

Here's a link to that article.
http://www.richslatcher.com/Teaching/psy357/Berscheid_Greening of Relationship Science.pdf

 

[ClinicalABA]

I have a good friend who just graduated in 2011 with a Ph.D. in Family Studies/Human Development from a respected university, with a publishable diss, publications/presentations, good research experience, etc. She has found very few academic positions available, with huge competition for each open position. That said, she has limited herself to our region (New England/New York)- a region with a lot of colleges/universities, but also a lot of competition.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

The academic job market as a whole right now seems to be pretty rough, due in no small part to recent national economic woes and subsequent funding hits to pretty much every state/public university (and likely many private ones as well). I'm sure there are pockets of availability, particularly if you're willing to live in less-popular areas, but even then, the competition is likely pretty fierce.

That being said, if you began the program this or next year, that would give the economy another 4-6 years (give or take) to recover before you were heading out to the job market.

Although I second psycscientist's question--what is it you're looking to practice? A degree in HDFS likely won't be licensable in most/all states, depending on the curriculum and amount of supervised clinical training (which I would imagine to be minimal/absent).

 

[Pragma]

The academic job market as a whole right now seems to be pretty rough, due in no small part to recent national economic woes and subsequent funding hits to pretty much every state/public university (and likely many private ones as well). I'm sure there are pockets of availability, particularly if you're willing to live in less-popular areas, but even then, the competition is likely pretty fierce.

That being said, if you began the program this or next year, that would give the economy another 4-6 years (give or take) to recover before you were heading out to the job market.

As someone who was on the academic job market this past year, I can say it is really brutal, especially if you are interested in living in a specific area. I was successful on the market, but it wasn't without great difficulty/uncertainty/lost marbles, and then some luck.

I can only imagine it would be difficult for something specific like HDFS and where there are fewer options other than academia.

 

[priorities2]

According to the BLS outlook, there will be a large increase in the number of marriage and family therapists in the next 10 years. So what about a PhD in MFT to be able to train marriage and family therapists? Would this be a route with more employment options?

 

[TNS1991]

According to the BLS outlook, there will be a large increase in the number of marriage and family therapists in the next 10 years. So what about a PhD in MFT to be able to train marriage and family therapists? Would this be a route with more employment options?

IMO I take BLS usually with a grain of salt. Their current job outlook estimates are until 2020 and there is no way to predict accurately how things are going to be like economy wise years down the road. I remember before the new edition came out this year the BLS had school counselors listed as much faster than average growth. Many of the people who graduated with a masters in school counseling from my university cannot find a job anywhere. I would look at job postings in the area you want to work in to see what qualifications they want. This would probably be better than just going with what BLS predicts.