Dr. Peréa research is focused on Latino and immigrant children, youth and families in urban communities, and examines the socioeconomic and environmental determinants of attitudes and behaviors, and how they impact health and wellbeing. She has a special interest in immigration and acculturation, as well as how and why the process of immigration and adjustment to life in the US (negatively) impacts health and wellbeing among sub-populations of the Latino demographic. Dr. Peréa research is applied, community and youth engaged, and designed to inform policies and decision making at the local level. She endeavors to bridge the distance between public health and various spheres that comprise and inform social policy more broadly, such as education, community, youth, and urban development.
Dr. Peréa's research projects include a (1) a study of the quality and utilization of outdoor spaces in Lawrence, MA, and an examination of how the city’s many municipal departments communicate and coordinate to manage and maintain parks and playgrounds; (2) a pilot study in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, MA that is testing an intervention to address health disparities among Caribbean Latino youth by decreasing stress, and increasing academic engagement and motivation; (3) a study of mental health after the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, among the Haitian immigrant community in Somerville, MA; and (4) an exploratory study of parental perceptions of child health, and socio-environmental factors and parenting behaviors that may impact health, among a sample of primarily Latino and immigrant low-income families with young children in Boston and Somerville, MA.
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Peréa, F. C. (forthcoming). Gender, language, and grades: A study of Dominican children of immigrant families from the urban east coast. New York: LFB Scholarly Publishing.
Peréa, F. C. (2008). Language, acculturation, and academic performance among children of immigrant families: A review of the literature. Working Paper #429. Wellesley, MA: The Wellesley Centers for Women.
Peréa, F. C., & García Coll, C. (2008). The social and cultural contexts of bilingualism. In J. Altarriba, & R. R. Heredia (Eds.), An introduction to bilingualism: Principles and processes (pp.199-241). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
International Conference on Population and Development. (2004). Investing in people: National progress in implementing the ICPD programme of action. New York: United Nations Population Fund. (Contributor).
Peréa, F. C., & Martinez, L. S. (forthcoming). Entries: Latinos, and Hispanic health paradox. In S. Loue and M. Sajatovic (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Immigrant Health. Springer Science + Business,
Martinez, L. S., & Peréa, F. C. (forthcoming). Entries: Community based participatory research, the built environment, and cultural competence. In S. Loue and M. Sajatovic (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Immigrant Health. Springer Science + Business.
Peréa, F. C., & Martinez, L. S. (invited submission under review). Connecting Public Health Research and Local Government: A Community and Youth Development Approach to Improve Urban Health and Outdoor Spaces. To the Journal of the Community Development Society, Special Issue on Community Development Approaches to Improving Public Health.
Martinez, L. S., & Peréa, F. C. (invited submission under review). Nuestro Futuro Saludable: A Partnership Approach for Connecting Public Health and Community Development to Build a Healthy Environment. To the Journal of the Community Development Society, Special Issue on Community Development Approaches to Improving Public Health. |
