Dr. Jan Pryor

Director

Jan was the inaugural Director of the Centre. In May 2009 Associate Professor Paul Jose became Acting Director when Jan became the Chief Commissioner at the Families Commission. She has now returned to the Centre as part time Director.

Jan's research focus has been on the impact of the process of family change on family members, and especially children. She co-authored with Dr Bryan Rodgers of Australian National University the book Children in Changing Families. Life after Parental Separation, published in 2001 by Blackwells in Oxford, U.K. The book reviews and interprets international research findings on family transitions, stepfamilies, and fathers in families. In 2008 she was editor of The International Handbook of Stepfamilies, published by John Wiley in New York.

Her research has also addressed:

• children's perceptions of families
• resilience in stepfamilies
• cohabitation, marriage and parenting
• emotional conflict and estrangement between parents and its impact on children and adolescents.

She is the domain leader of the Family and Whanau domain of the Growing Up in New Zealand Study (www.growingup.co.nz), which is a longitudinal study involving nearly 7000 families.

Jan has previously taught Developmental and Family Psychology in the School of Psychology at Victoria University, and is involved in education for Family Court professionals and others working with families.

She is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Social Welfare and the Law, the Journal of Family Studies, and Family Courts Review.

Email: jan.pryor@vuw.ac.nz
Phone: 04 463 7428

Selected Publications