Mary Keegan Eamon
Associate Professor
Office location:332 SSW
Phone number:217-244-5238
Email: eamon@uiuc.edu
Educational Background
Professor Mary Keegan Eamon received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Michigan in 1975, her MSW from the University of Iowa in 1977, her MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 1993, and her PhD in Social Welfare from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1998. She joined the School of Social Work at the University of Illinois as Assistant Professor in 1998, after 12 years as a social work practitioner in a variety of agency settings.
Research and Practice Interests
Professor Eamon’s research has examined the influence of poverty on the well-being of families, children, and youths. Her research has documented the disparities in societal resources between poor and non-poor individuals and families. The majority of her research has made contributions to social policy and social work practice by identifying the mechanisms that explain why poor children and youths frequently exhibit lower levels of well-being compared to their non-poor peers. Her research also has informed social work intervention and education. She has examined the ways in which poverty can impact social work intervention and found that MSW students are not particularly sensitive to the economic circumstances of clients during assessment and intervention.
Current Research
Professor Eamon is currently finishing revisions on a book which evaluates cognitive-behavioral interventions that empower vulnerable populations. The interventions assist vulnerable groups to access social and economic resources and to increase control over the decisions made about their lives at the micro and macro levels. Informed by research evaluating the interventions in her book, she and a colleague are conducting preliminary research to obtain outside funding. The grant will be used to develop and evaluate training materials, which incorporate cognitive-behavioral interventions to increase the political activity of low-income groups. She also is conducting research with another colleague that examines the use of various private and public sources of assistance, reasons for not seeking public assistance, and whether sources of assistance are related to measures of well-being in a national sample of low-income individuals.
Recent Publications
Eamon, M. K. (2005). Social-demographic, school, neighborhood, and parenting influences on the academic achievement of Latino young adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 34, 163-174.
Eamon, M. K., & Kopels, S. (2004). For reasons of poverty: Court challenges to child welfare practices and mandated programs. Children and Youth Services Review, 821-836.
Eamon, M. K. (2004). Digital divide in computer access and use between poor and non-poor youth. Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, 31, 91-112.
Eamon, M. K., & Venkataraman, M. (2003). Implementing parent management training in the context of poverty. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 31, 283-295.
Eamon, M. K., & Zuehl, R. (2001). Maternal depression and physical punishment as mediators of the effect of poverty on the socioemotional problems of children in single-mother families. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 71, 218-226.