Category: Faculty

Travis Dorsch, associate professor in Human Development and Family Studies at USU, is passionate about the research he and his doctoral students, Kat Adams and Katie Alexander, have been conducting for a contract they were awarded from Lasso Safe, a nonprofit global coalition working towards the proactive assurance of athlete safety and wellness.

Patti Thomas – This study adds to the literature on the relationship between social relationships and cognitive function by using social integration theory to examine whether a sense of community belonging at different ages is related to cognitive function in later life.

Trent Mize – Decades of research shows that holding and maintaining multiple social roles leads to better mental health and well-being overall, but role-accumulation theory has not proposed or considered whether effects vary at different stages in the life course. Rather, the current theory assumes that social roles’ positive influence on mental health should be similar at all ages.

Leanne Nieforth – Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects nearly 23% of veterans who served after 9/11, creating challenges not just for them but for their families too. A recent study explores how psychiatric service dogs help alleviate these issues and foster resilience among military families. Here’s what the research uncovered.

Sarah Eason – Research shows that parent–child math activities in the home positively relate to children’s math learning.

David Purpura – The home learning environment (HLE) is an important context for fostering early development. Literature supports four subdomains of the HLE: home literacy, numeracy, executive function, and science environments.

David Purpura

Nancy Edwards

Kameron Moding

A.J. Schwichtenberg