Josefina Flores Morales
My research interests are organized along two interrelated lines: adolescent migrant educational experiences & migrant adult employment experiences. Regarding the latter, I am curious about how long term employment, health, and retirement outcomes of Mexican migrants in the U.S. are shaped by an undocumented immigrant status.
Currently, I am undertaking an ethnographic project on Latino/a entrepreneurs in Central California in order to explore human capital formation, immigrant skills, as well as immigrants' perspectives on retirement. In addition to my qualitative work, I am pursuing several quantitative projects that use nationally representative datasets to examine generational heterogeneity in immigrant youth educational outcomes as well as the health impact of working in certain occupations over time.
Fields of Study
Immigration, Education, Aging, and Health
Publications
Flores Morales, J. (2014). Immigrant youth: Some implications for schools. Center for Mental Health in Schools. Retrieved from http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/immig.pdf.
Flores Morales, J. Tapestry of transitions: Case study of newcomer students in urban high school. Manuscript in progress.
Flores Morales, J., & Garcia, Y. Anxious & Undocumented: A close look at family responsibilities in Latino undocumented college students. Manuscript in progress.
Grants and Awards
Humane Studies Fellowship, Institute for Humane Studies 2018-2019
Best Poster Award (top ~5% of posters), Population Association of America 2018 ("Immigrants age too: Projections of the magnitude of the U.S. undocumented adult population")
National Poverty Study Graduate Fellow, Stanford Center on Poverty & Inequality 2018
Graduate Summer Research Mentorship program, UCLA 2018
Honorable Mention, Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowship 2018
Health Policy Research Scholars, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation 2016-2020
Funded participant - Poverty Tracker Data Training Workshop, Columbia Population Research Center and Center on Poverty & Social Poverty 2017
PhD Scholarship, Institute for Humane Studies 2017
Eugene Cota Robles fellowship, UCLA 2017
Andres y Maria Cardenas Family Foundation Scholarship 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18
Helen Firstbrook Franklin Scholarship Program, Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies Program (LACIS), University of Wisconsin- Madison 2016
Hispanic Scholarship Fund Scholar 2016
Young Scholars Program, Society for Research on Adolescence 2016
Best Poster Award, UCLA Powell Research Week 2016
Council of Mexican Federations Mexican American Dream Scholarship 2015
Pre-Health Dreamers Health Professional Advancement Program Fellow 2015
Adler University Travel Award 2015
Community Development of Social Justice Scholars Program, UCLA, research stipend 2015
Psychology Research Opportunities Program, UCLA, research stipend 2015
Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology Poster Award 2015
Undergraduate Travel Grant, UCLA Undergraduate Research Center 2015
Janet Brown Memorial Scholarship, Writing Success Program, UCLA 2013
Comision Femenil de San Fernando Valley Scholarship 2012
Rigoberto Ruelas Memorial Scholarship, UTLA 2012
Conference Presentations
Oral Presentations
Nobles, J., Flores Morales, J., Diaz C., Fletcher, J. (2017, April). Network Closure and Educational Mobility in Mexican Families. Population Association of America Meetings, Chicago.
Flores Morales, J. Garcia, Y., Suárez-Orozco, C. (2016, May). Anxious and undocumented: A closer look at family responsibilities while in college. Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference, Los Angeles, CA
Flores Morales, J. Garcia, Y., Suárez-Orozco, C. (2016, May). Anxious and undocumented: A closer look at family responsibilities while in college. UCLA Powell Week, Los Angeles, CA.
Flores Morales, J. (2015, November). Oral history: Latino new immigrant youth. Invited panelist in undergraduate course at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA.
Flores Morales, J., & Smith, S. J. (2015, August). Addressing occupational health for lowwage workers in a community health care setting. Paper presented at the Southern California NIOSH Education and Research Center Symposium, Los Angeles, CA.
Flores Morales, J. (2015, March). Undocumented student resources in higher education. Presented at the Annual Rock out Youth Poverty Conference, Los Angeles, CA.
Poster Presentations
Flores Morales, J. Garcia, Y., Suárez-Orozco, C. (2017, April). Anxious and Undocumented: A closer look at Family Responsibilities of Latino college students. Population Association of America Meetings, Chicago.
Flores Morales, J. Nguyen, E. T., Moody, C. T., & Baker, B. L. (2016, May). The effect of maternal mental health on mothers’ language behavior towards typically developing and developmentally delayed children. Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference, Los Angeles, CA
Flores Morales, J. (2016, May). The tapestry of transitions: English Language Learners’ demography, school-based resource use and staff perspectives. UCLA Powell Week, Los Angeles, CA.
Flores Morales, J. Garcia, Y., Suárez-Orozco, C.. (2016, April). Anxious and undocumented: A closer look at family responsibilities while in college. Western Psychological Association conference, Long Beach, CA.
Cerda, J., Flores Morales, J. Suárez-Orozco, C. (2016, May). Young Dual Language Learners’ language attitudes and motivational orientations about learning and using two languages at school. American Psychological Science conference, Chicago, IL.
Flores Morales, J. (2015, May). Social support and knowledge about transferring to a 4year program. Poster session presented at the UH Manoa Psi Chi 1st Annual Psychology Undergraduate Conference, Honolulu, HI.
Flores Morales, J. (2015, May). Social support and knowledge about transferring to a 4year program. Poster session presented at the Stanford Undergraduate Psychology Conference, Stanford, CA.
Flores Morales, J. (2015, May). Social support and knowledge about transferring to a 4year program. Poster session presented at the UCLA Powell Undergraduate Research Week, Los Angeles, CA.
Flores Morales, J. (2015, May). Working class heroines: Female Mexican factory workers in the U.S. Poster session presented at the UCLA Powell Undergraduate Research Week, Los Angeles, CA.
Flores Morales, J. (2015, January). Who are English Language Learners?: A case study exploring immigrant histories. Poster session presented at the meeting of the Council of University Directors of Clinical Psychology, Albuquerque, NM.
Advisors
Vilma Ortiz, Anne Pebley
Degrees
B.A. in Psychology with Public Health minor, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 2016