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Robert Joseph Taylor

Harold R Johnson Endowed Professor of Social Work, Sheila Feld Collegiate Professor of Social Work, School of Social Work and Faculty Associate, Research Center for Group Dynamics, Institute for Social Research

Robert Joseph Taylor

Robert Joseph Taylor is the Harold R. Johnson Endowed Professor of Social Work and the Sheila Feld Collegiate Professor of Social Work. He is also the Director of the Program for Research on Black Americans at the Institute for Social Research. Professor Taylor has published extensively on the informal social support networks (i.e., family, friends, and church members) of adult and elderly Black Americans. An article by Thyer in Journal of Social Service Research finds that Robert Joseph Taylor is the #15 most influential social work faculty (out of 2204 faculty) based on H-index. An article by Kimberly Y. Huggins-Hoyt in the journal, Research on Social Work Practice, found that he was the #1 cited African American faculty member in the field of Social Work. Robert Joseph Taylor has been principal investigator of several grants from the National Institute on Aging that examine the role of religion in the lives of Black and White elderly adults. He has been co-principal investigator with James Jackson on several grants from the National Institute of Mental Health on the correlates of mental health and mental illness among Black Americans, including the only major national study of the prevalence of mental illness among Black Americans (The National Survey of American Life). He has edited two books, Family Life in Black America (1997) and Aging in Black America (1993) with James S. Jackson and Linda M. Chatters. He is also the lead author of the book, Religion in the Lives of African Americans: Social, Psychological, and Health Perspectives (2004) with Linda Chatters and Jeff Levin. He is the founding editor of African American Research Perspectives and has reviewed manuscripts for over 60 different journals. To date he has published over 175 peer review journal articles.

Research Interests/Focus

Informal social support networks of adult/elderly African Americans.

Contact Information

PhoneEmailRoomAddress
(734) 615-9601rjtaylor@umich.edu4712 SSWBUniversity of Michigan
School of Social Work
1080 S. University
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Education

Year Degree   School
1983 PhD Social Work and Sociology University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
1976 MSW Social Work University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
1974 BA Sociology Northwestern University, Evanston, IL

Websites

http://www.isr.umich.edu/rcgd/prba/

News

Year Description
2020 Taylor, R. J., (Sept 2020). Social Support and Social Isolation among Older African Americans. Presentation for the National Institute of Mental Health Meeting, Social Disconnection in Late Life Suicide: Mechanisms, Treatment Targets, and Interventions. Virtual.
2005 Zapata, A., Mitchell, N., Eubanks, S., Cowie, S., Chatters, L., Taylor, R., et al. (2005, April). The uses of ministerial support by African Americans: A focus group study. Presented at the 3rd Annual Mid Year Research Conference on Religion and Spirituality Loyola College, MD.
2005 Taylor, R. J. (2005, January). Religious participation among black Americans. Presented at the Institute of Gerontology, Wayne State University.
2004 Taylor, R. J. (2004, April). Trials and tribulations of the early days of the National Survey of Black Americans. Presented at the Southern Sociological Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA.
2004 Taylor, R. J. (2004, January). Religious participation among African Americans. Presented at the School of Social Work, Howard University, Washington, D.C.
2004 Taylor, R. J. (2004, November). National Survey of American Life and international three generation family study. Presented at the Social Work Development Center, University of Washington.
2003 Chatters, L. M., & Taylor, R. J. (2003, November). Church support networks of older blacks. Poster presented at the 56th Annual Scientific Meetings of the Gerontological Society of America, San Diego, CA.
2001 Neighbors, H. W., Chatters, L. M., Hussen, S., Taylor, P., Mattis, J., Taylor, R. J., et al. (2001, October). The use of ministers for personal problems: Findings from a focus group study of African American adults. Presented at the 129th Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, Atlanta, GA.
2001 Chatters, L. M., Neighbors, H. W., Mattis, J., Taylor, R. J., Coleman, K., Stillman, P. K., et al. (2001, October). Religious effects on health: Findings from a focus group study of African American adults. Presented at the Caucus on Public Health and the Faith Community, the 129th Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, Atlanta, GA.
2000 Taylor, R. J., Chatters, L. M., & Lincoln, K. D. (2000, November). Family and church support networks among African Americans. Paper presented for the symposium, Is Need Enough?: Additional Pathways to Service Utilization, at the 53rd Annual Scientific Meetings of the Gerontological Society of America, Washington, DC.
1999 Chatters, L. M., Taylor, R. J., Ellison, C. G., Levin, J. S., & Lincoln, K. D. (1999, November). Congregational and clergy support to African American older adults. Presented at the symposium, Beyond Family and Friend: Under-researched Topics in Social Support, at the 52nd Annual Scientific Meetings of the Gerontological Society of America, San Francisco, CA.
1999 Chatters, L. M., & Taylor, R. J. (1999, October). Contextual factors in religion/spirituality and health. Paper presented at the Spirituality, Religion and Health Workshop, Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.
1998 Taylor, R. J. (1998, May). Correlates of religious participation among black Americans. Paper presented at the Conference on Religion in the Lives of Black and White Americans, Center on Race and Religious Participation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
1998 Taylor, R. J. (1998, August). Obtaining funding from NIH. Paper presented at the pre-conference Grants workshop: Funding Opportunities at NIH, Association of Black Sociologists, San Francisco, CA.
1996 Taylor, R. J. (1996, November). Informal support networks of black Americans. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Gerontological Association of America, Washington, D.C.
1994 Levin, J., Chatters, L. M., & Taylor, R. J. (1994). A structural model of religious resources, stress, health and life satisfaction in African Americans.
1994 Sellers, S., Hunter, A., & Taylor, R. J. (1994, November). Feminist consciousness among African American men and women. Presented at the National Council on Family Relations.
1992 Taylor, R. J. (1992, April). Informal social support networks of black Americans. Presented at the workshop, Research on Ethnically Diverse Families with Retarded, Developmentally Disabled, and Physically Disabled Members, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Branch and the National Center of Medical Rehabilitation Research), Bethesda, MD.
1991 Taylor, R. J. (1991, February). Recent demographic trends in black family structure. Presented at the conference Black American Families: Challenges and Opportunities, Center for Afro-American and African Studies, Ann Arbor, MI.
1991 Taylor, R. J. (1991, March). Recent demographic studies of elderly Black adults: Implications for policy and practice. Presented at the Department of Human Services, State of Texas, Austin, TX.
1991 Taylor, R. J. (1991, April). Supportive networks of Black extended families. Presented at the Department of Sociology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE.
1990 Thornton, M., Tran, T., & Taylor R. J. (1990, August). Multiple dimensions of racial group identification among black Americans. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Association of Black Sociologists, Washington, D.C.
1990 Burns, C., & Taylor, R. J. (1990, August). Non-kin as sources of informal assistance to black Americans. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Association of Black Sociologists, Washington, D.C.
1990 Taylor, R. J. (1990, November). A decade review of research on the family lives of black Americans. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Council on Family Relations, Seattle, WA.
1989 Levin, J., Chatters, L. M., Taylor, R. J., & Jackson, J. S. (1989). Religiosity, health, and life satisfaction in black Americans. Presented at the Symposium on Religion and Mental Health: Current Empirical Research, The Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, New Orleans, LA.
1987 Taylor, R. J., Chatters, L. M., & Jackson, J. S. (1987, September). A profile of familial assistance among three generation black American families. Paper presented at a workshop (Family Intergenerational Relations) jointly sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health and Development and the National Institute on Aging, Bethesda, MD.
1986 Taylor, R. J. (1986, November). Supportive networks of aging blacks. Paper presented at the 39th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, Chicago, IL.
1986 Taylor, R. J. (1986, September). Aging and supportive relationships among black Americans. Paper presented at a workshop, Research on Aging Black Populations, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.
1985 Jackson, J. S., Chatters, L. M., Taylor, R. J., & Chadiha, L. (1985, July). Well-being in three generation family lineage environments. Paper presented at the l3th International Congress of Gerontology, New York, NY.
1985 Taylor, R. J. (1985, May). Religious lives of black Americans. Paper presented at The Divinity School, University of Chicago.
1984 Taylor, R. J. (1984, October). Intergenerational support in black families. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Council for Family Relations, San Francisco, CA.
1984 Taylor, R. J. (1984, November). Support transfers from adult children to elderly parents. Paper presented at the 37th Annual Scientific Meetings of the Gerontological Society of American, San Antonio, TX.
1983 Taylor, R. J. (1983, May). The influence of family, friends and church members in the informal social support networks of the black elderly. Paper presented at the Groves Conference on Marriage and the Family, Freeport, Bahamas.
1983 Chatters, L. M., Taylor, R. J., & Jackson, J. S. (1983). Health and support patterns among elderly blacks. Paper presented at the American Sociological Association, Special Session: Support in Family Systems: Specialized Functions and the Care and Well-Being of Elderly Relatives, ASA Annual Meeting, Detroit, MI.
1982 Taylor, R. J. (1982, April). Aging and the black family. Paper presented at Hampton Institute's Fourth Annual Conference on the Black Family.
1981 Taylor, R. J. (1981, April). The informal social support networks of black Americans: A preliminary analysis from the national survey of black Americans. Paper presented at the l3th Annual Conference of the National Association of Black Social Workers, Atlanta, GA.
1981 Taylor, R. J. (1981, October). Demographic correlates of social support in black families: A log-linear analysis. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Council for Family Relations, Milwaukee, WI.
1981 Taylor, R. J. (1981, November). The relative influence of demographic and family variables on the frequency of informal social support among older black Americans. Paper presented at the 34th Annual Scientific Meetings of the Gerontological Society of America and the 10th Annual Scientific and Educational Meeting of the Canadian Association of Gerontology, Toronto, Canada.
1980 Taylor, R. J. (1980, February). The role of blacks in research. Paper presented to the Association of Black Social Work Students, School of Social Service, University of Chicago.
1980 Taylor, R. J. (1980, August). Social support and the black elderly. Paper presented at the 13th Annual Convention of the Association of Black Psychologists, Cherry Hill, NJ.
1980 Taylor, R. J. (1980, November). The impact of federal health care policy on the elderly poor: The special case of the black elderly. Paper presented at the Gerontological Society 33rd Annual Scientific Meeting, San Diego, CA.

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