Professor
Department of Communication
University of California Santa Barbara
Research Interests
Tamara Afifi is a Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of California-Santa Barbara. Her research focuses on communication patterns that foster risk and resiliency in families and other interpersonal relationships. In particular, she examines how people communicate within social relationships when they are stressed and the impact of these communication patterns on personal and relational health, adaptation, and biosocial markers (e.g., cortisol, sAA, immune markers). Her most recent work investigates how family members maintain their relationships as a way to manage their stress and health.