Courses - Fall 2026
FMSC123
Personal Financial Literacy: From Distress to Success
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Exploring strategic thinking, career, education, financial planning during college years as the foundation for success in living a meaningful life. While introducing relevant institutions and tools & techniques that are critical for financial planning, this course applies value-based goal setting and strategic planning that inform individuals' paths for a successful career, educational attainment, and optimum (mental, physical and financial) wellbeing throughout their life cycle. The course particularly emphasizes the individual's responsibility of living in an institution rich society, where, continuous learning, understanding institutions, rational decision-making, valuing relationships and networking, early career development, record keeping, budgeting, generating income and wealth, purposeful spending, saving and investing, tax planning, appropriate use of loans, risk taking and insurance, and retirement planning are well rewarded and ensure the optimum use of college years and the rest of life-course.
FMSC126
International Family Law: Parent/Child Relationship in the Americas
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
In this Global Classroom, U.S. students will work synchronously online with their international peers in Brazil to critically think about cutting-edge ethical, legal, and policy, issues in the field of International Family Law focusing on the parent/child relationship. Topics range from education, foster care, to human development. Students contrast parents' rights to raise their children as they see fit with the tension when the state steps in to provide protection in areas like medical decision making and child abuse and consider the social, cultural, racial, religious, economic, or socioeconomic contexts that influence each of these topics. In so doing, students will be challenged to think critically and see their place in creating actionable change in a global society.
FMSC177
BE WELL: Building Emotional Wellness through ExperientiaL Learning
Credits:
1
Grad Meth:
Reg
Students on UMD campus experience new challenges to their mental health and well-being every semester, and there are limited resources to help students manage their own health or to support their peers. This experiential skill development workshop course is designed to assist students in developing their knowledge in ways to recognize, manage, and cope with symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression. There is a focus on coping with pandemic-related and course-related concerns, relationship issues, and a range of other student concerns.
FMSC190S
An examination of changing fatherhood roles, health, and inequality in diverse families. Focus will be on masculinities and disparities among men by race and class; provider role expectations; and trauma and violence faced by men in contemporary society.
Restricted to College Park Scholars.
FMSC260
Couples, Marriage, and Families: Intimate Relationship Across the Life Course
Covers the different aspects of couple relationships and family life. This includes common problems in couple relationships, and resources to strengthen couple and family relationships. You will also learn about stages of relationships, theories of love and family, policy related to couples and family formation, and how research is conducted with couples and families. Together, we will discuss and explore issues that couples and families face in modern times and will consider how many of these issues have changed due to policy, technology, attitudes, and a variety of other societal factors that impact relationships in the 21st century. You will also learn important methods of strengthening current and future relationships.
FMSC270
Sex, Drugs, and Social Media: Adolescent Health and Development
This course will ask: How can families, schools, communities, and society help adolescents to navigate contemporary stressors and develop into physically and mentally healthy adults? To do this, we will use research, and an understanding of adolescent development, to explore and analyze issues affecting the health and behavior of American adolescents. Such issues include (but are not limited to) sex education, the role of social media in mental health, substance use, policing in schools, dating violence, suicide prevention, access to sexual and reproductive health care, and school start times. We will consider how adolescent well-being is shaped by social contexts, including the role of parents and family members, peers, schools, communities, social media, and culture. We will examine policies and programs that affect adolescents, how effective they are at promoting adolescent health, and how they might be improved to better support healthy adolescent development.
FMSC286
Assisted Reproduction Law and Policy in the US and Brazil
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F
Credit only granted for: FMSC186 or FMSC286.
Additional information: This is a global classroom course where students will learn online, meet once a week in a synchronous class on Webex with their Brazilian classmates, and work individually via Webex in small international groups.
In this Global Classroom, U.S. students will work synchronously online with their international partners in Brazil to critically think about cutting-edge ethical, legal, policy and scientific issues in the field of Assisted Reproduction Technologies (ART) in the two countries. This course looks at conventional families created in unconventional ways to examine such topics as sperm and egg donation, in vitro fertilization, surrogacy, reproductive organ transplants and more - while considering the social, cultural, racial, religious, economic, or socioeconomic contexts that influence each. Students will work with their foreign peers in small groups to compare ART in each country and then create proposed legislation for either the U.S. or Brazil which their international group will present online to their colleges and submit to the country's legislators. In so doing, students will be challenged to think critically and see their place in creating actionable change in a global society.
FMSC290
Family Economics
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Credit only granted for: FMSC290 or FMST290.
Formerly: FMST290.
Application of economic methodology to study families under various economic situations. Examination of how decisions about marriage, divorce, fertility, consumption and time use are influenced by labor/housing markets, tax structure, social welfare benefits and other economic considerations.
Restricted to Majors or non-majors with less than or equal to 60 credits.
FMSC302
Prerequisite: Must have completed an introductory statistics course.
Restriction: Must be in a major within SPHL-Family Science department.
Introduction to the methods of the social and behavioral sciences employed in family science. The role of theory, the development of hypotheses, measurement, design, and data analysis.
FMSC310
Maternal, Child and Family Health
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F
Credit only granted for: FMSC310, FMSC410 or FMSC498A.
Formerly: FMSC498A and FMSC410.
Additional information: A comprehensive understanding of maternal, child, and family health, with additional emphasis on environmental health, needs assessment and evaluation, enabling students to more effectively address issues in the workplace.
Overview of the major issues in Maternal, Child, and Family Health in the U.S. and the world. The course will cover the social, political, environmental, and economic factors that shape the health of women, children, and families throughout the life course. It will employ the core disciplines of public health -- 1) epidemiology/biostatistics, 2) environmental health, 3) health policy and administration, and 4) social and behavioral health -- to examine these factors. The course introduces specific issues and interventions and places these issues and interventions within their broad sociohistorical context.
FMSC330
Restriction: Sophomore standing or higher.
The objective of this gateway course is to help you understand and apply basic theories and empirical data on family health. The course is designed to provide you with skills to think critically about theories including: Life Course Theory, the Bio-Ecological and Social-Ecological Models, and Systems Theory. We will ask questions about the distinct qualities and intersections of contexts and characteristics that impact the functioning of families. We will apply theory and research to topical issues in family health that are impacted by social structures such as conflict, crisis, migration, incarceration and inequalities.
FMSC332
Children in Families
Prerequisite: Minimum grade of C- in PSYC100, SOCY100 or SOCY105.
Credit only granted for: FMSC332 or FMST332.
Formerly: FMST332.
A family life education approach to the study of children and families. Emphasis on the interaction of children with parents, siblings, extended kin, and the community.
FMSC340
Mental Health and Healing in Families
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Using an interdisciplinary approach to study mental health, mental wellness, and substance use, we will answer questions such as: How has our understanding and treatment of mental health changed throughout history? What are the current prevalence patterns and risk factors associated with mental health conditions? What is the prevention to postvention continuum? What is the role of relationships, families, and communities in addressing mental health? How do we diagnose and treat various mental health disorders using the best available research? And, what are the various mental health disciplines and how do they differ? This course is designed to examine mental health issues across the life course. We will explore the influence of social contexts, including racism and additional forms of othering, on mental health and wellness, and introduce the health systems that support mental health prevention and treatment.
FMSC341
Personal and Family Finance
Credit only granted for: FMSC341 or FMST341.
Formerly: FMST341.
Individual and family financial strategies with emphasis on financial planning, savings, investments, insurance, income taxes, housing, and use of credit. Planning, analyzing, and controlling financial resources to resolve personal/family financial problems and to attain financial security.
FMSC374
Working with Diverse Families in Public Health Practice
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: Minimum grade of C- in FMSC330.
Focuses on the "doing" and modeling of skills required in navigating diverse social environments with families. These skills are necessary to engage in authentic work as family scientists, public health professionals, and family health practitioners. Using an intersectional framework, we will examine cultural, ethnic, and linguistic diversity for families impacted by challenges to equity and privilege. The course material emphasizes deep knowledge and skill building towards cultural sensitivity, including history, values, language, religion, and communication with families across multiple racial and ethnic backgrounds. Students will also explore differences emerging from experiences of poverty, sexual orientation and gender identity, and disability. The goal of the course is to support students in developing a family/professional alliance for health and well-being.
FMSC381
Prerequisite: Minimum grade of C- in PSYC100, SOCY100, or SOCY105.
Restriction: Must be in a major within SPHL-Family Science department.
Social, political, cultural and economic factors influencing income and wealth in American families.
FMSC383
Health and Human Services Delivery and Evaluation
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: FMSC330.
Restriction: Must be in a major within SPHL-Family Science department.
Processes of service delivery with special emphasis upon relationships among managers, service providers and clients. The impact of human service systems on families.
FMSC399
Independent Study
Credits:
1 - 6
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
FMSC405
LGBTQ+ Individuals, Families, and Communities
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: FMSC330.
LGBTQ+ people experience distinct patterns of health and wellbeing shaped by, development, relationships, and the social contexts in which they live. Drawing on key, theoretical frameworks from family health and developmental science, this course, provides an overview of research on LGBTQ+ individuals, families, and communities from early life through later adulthood. Students will examine how multilevel factors--such as identity development, family processes, stigma and discrimination, policy and institutions, schools and workplaces, healthcare access and quality, community resources, and media and technology--interact over time to shape health and wellbeing. Students will gain mastery of key concepts including minority stress and resilience, identity development, intersectionality, and structural determinants of health, with attention to variation across sexual orientations, gender identities, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic position, disability, geography, and immigration status.
FMSC432
Adult Development and Aging in Families
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: Minimum grade of C- in PSYC100.
Restriction: Must be in a major within SPHL-Family Science department.
Credit only granted for: FMSC432 or FMST432.
Formerly: FMST432.
Theory, research, history, and programming related to adult development and aging in the intergenerational context of family.
FMSC460
Prerequisite: SOCY100, SOCY105, or PSYC100.
Credit only granted for: FMSC460 or FMST460.
Formerly: FMST460.
Theories of child, spouse, and elder abuse in the family setting. Emphasis on historical, psychological, sociological and legal trends relating to physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. Introduction to methods for prevention and remediation.
FMSC477
Internship and Analysis in Family Health
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: FMSC383; and 9 credits in FMSC courses; and permission of SPHL-Family Science department.
Restriction: Must be in a major within SPHL-Family Science department.
Credit only granted for: FMSC477, FMST347, or FMST477.
Formerly: FMST477.
Additional information: See department for application procedures.
A supervised internship and a seminar requiring analysis. Opportunities to integrate theory and practice including 120 hours of contracted field experience.
FMSC485
Introduction to Family Therapy
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Prerequisite: FMSC330; or 1 course from PSYC300-499 course range.
Credit only granted for: FMSC485 or FMST485.
Formerly: FMST485.
The fundamental theoretical concepts and clinical procedures of marital and family therapy including premarital and divorce therapy issues.
FMSC487
Family Law
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Designed for students interested in studying the law, public health, and family science, this course provides students with a general overview of family law and the impact on healthy families. The course also includes the study of cutting-edge issues such as marriage equality, assisted reproduction and ethical issues that may arise.
FMSC498
Special Topics: Family Science; Family Studies
Credits:
1 - 3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F
FMSC498H
Special Topics: Family Science; Family Studies Honors Thesis
Credits:
1 - 3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
FMSC498P
Special Topics: Family Science; Child and Family Policy Impact
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, P-F, Aud
Cross-listed with PLCY388A. Credit only granted for PLCY388A or FMSC498P
FMSC631
Trauma & Addiction in Family Life
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg
Credit only granted for: FMSC631 or FMSC698A.
Formerly: FMSC698A.
Introduces students to traumatic stress, trauma- and stressor-related disorders, and substance-related and addictive disorders. Students will learn about risk factors for traumatic stress along the lifespan and individual and family resiliency to these conditions. This course will provide students with the tools necessary for assessment and diagnosis of trauma- and stressor-related disorders and substance-related and addictive disorders. Students will become knowledgeable about the short-term and long-term consequences of traumatic stress and learn about research-supported best clinical practices for the treatment of trauma- and stressor-related disorders, and substance-related and addictive disorders. The students will also learn about recognizing and preventing burnout, compassion fatigue, and secondary traumatization.
FMSC640
Family Therapy: Theory and Techniques
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, Aud
Credit only granted for: FMSC640 or FMST640.
Formerly: FMST640.
Overview of fundamental theoretical concepts and clinical procedures in marital and family therapy, with an emphasis on those therapies which operate from a family systems perspective.
FMSC642
Individual and Family Development Across the Lifespan
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, Aud
Prerequisite: FMSC640.
Normal development and psychopathology in the family system. Emphasis on parent-child relationships and application of the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) to family therapy.
Formerly: FMST642. Credit only granted for FMSC642 or FMST642. Prerequisite: FMSC640.
Normal development and psychopathology in the family system. Emphasis on parent-child relationships and application of the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) to family therapy.
Normal development and psychopathology in the family system. Emphasis on parent-child relationships and application of the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) to family therapy.
FMSC650
Ethical, Legal, and Professional Principles in Couple and Family Therapy
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, Aud
Prerequisite: Permission of SPHL-Family Science department.
Restriction: Must be in Couple and Family Therapy (Master's) program.
This course offers an introduction to the basic principles and practices in couple and family therapy. It covers major theoretical approaches to couple and family therapy, linking core concepts to practical aspects of assessment and treatment. Readings, didactic presentations by the instructor, and class discussions are designed to build students' knowledge of both generic therapy skills and specific techniques within each theoretical model. Emphasis is given to professional ethics, standards, and clinical skills/techniques necessary for the beginning family practitioner. Students become familiar with professional ethical codes as well as ethical decision-making models and how to apply them in clinical practice. In-class roleplays are used for practicing specific assessment and treatment methods, as well as for gaining experience in responding appropriately to a variety of common professional and ethical issues that arise in clinical practice.
FMSC652
Psychopathology and Diagnosis in Family Systems
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, Aud
Prerequisite: FMSC651.
Restriction: Must be in Couple and Family Therapy (Master's) program.
The purpose of this course is to assist intermediate family therapists in further developing their knowledge, clinical, and professional expertise by deepening their understanding of major child and adult psychopathology. Further, students will learn to apply this knowledge to their clinical work, particularly in addressing individual family members' psychopathology within the context of family relationships. Major foci of the course include assessment and diagnostic interviewing in family therapy, and intervention with forms of psychopathology such as depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse, and major mental disorders with clients who present for couple and family therapy.
FMSC658
Supervised Clinical Practice in Couple and Family Therapy
Credits:
1 - 3
Grad Meth:
Reg, Aud
Prerequisite: FMSC650 and permission of instructor.
FMSC689
Research Internship
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg
FMSC698
Advanced Topics in Family Science
Credits:
1 - 3
Grad Meth:
Reg, Aud
Must have written permission of faculty member and chairperson.
FMSC699
Independent Study
Credits:
1 - 6
Grad Meth:
Reg, Aud
FMSC745
Diversity and Social Justice In Couple and Family Therapy
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, Aud
Credit only granted for: FMSC745 or FMST745.
Formerly: FMST745.
The purpose of this course is to improve students' cultural competence by sensitizing them to sources of bias in family service delivery, particularly those associated with race, culture/ ethnicity, social class, gender, sexual orientation, immigration, spirituality, and ability. Students will be introduced to major critiques of service delivery, couple and family therapy, and research from each of these perspectives, as well as recommendations for addressing these issues in practice.
FMSC750
Family and Health Policy
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, Aud, S-F
Credit only granted for: FMSC750 or FMST750.
Formerly: FMST750.
Development and analysis of public policies affecting the health and well-being of children, youth, and families, with an emphasis on low income and ethnic minority populations. Examination of social, economic, and political dynamics that influence family and health policies and the delivery of health care. Introduction to health advocacy within the US public health system.
FMSC789
Non-Thesis Research
Credits:
1 - 3
Grad Meth:
Reg, Aud
FMSC799
Master's Thesis Research
Credits:
1 - 6
Grad Meth:
S-F
Must have written permission of faculty member and chairperson.
FMSC850
Maternal & Child Health Epidemiology
Credits:
3
Grad Meth:
Reg, Aud, S-F
Restriction: Permission of instructor.
Credit only granted for: FMSC850, FMST698P, or FMST850.
Formerly: FMST850.
Determinants and trends in Maternal and Child Health, including analysis of the role of economic inequalities, race and ethnicity, community contexts, and psychosocial factors across the life course. Overview of methods and data systems used to monitor Maternal and Child Health. Development of a complete population health study.
FMSC879
Preparing Future Faculty and Professionals Seminar
Credits:
1
Grad Meth:
Reg, Aud
FMSC898
Pre-Candidacy Research
Credits:
1 - 8
Grad Meth:
Reg
FMSC899
Doctoral Dissertation Research
Credits:
6
Grad Meth:
S-F
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University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
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