Center for Families

Harnessing the power of faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends to improve our quality of life.

December 4, 2024

Relation between general vocabulary knowledge and early numeracy competence: The mediating role of mathematical language

David Purpura

Early language skills are considered important precursors of early mathematical development. Prior research extensively explored the association between vocabulary and early numeracy.

December 4, 2024

Early-Life Parental Affection, Social Relationships in Adulthood, and Later-Life Cognitive Function

Patti Thomas

Although research has demonstrated the long-term health consequences of childhood adversities, less is known about the long-term impact of positive childhood experiences, such as parental affection.

December 2, 2024

Long-term trajectories of depressive symptoms by military affiliation

Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth, Zoe Taylor Laura Schwab-Reese, Sharon Christ

Using a national sample of Americans, this study estimated and compared patterns of depressive symptom trajectories stratified by military service.

November 28, 2024

Associations among parents’ math anxiety, math-related leisure activities, children’s early numeracy interest and skills

David Purpura

Parents play a pivotal role in early numeracy development. It however remains unknown whether parents' math anxiety and math-related leisure activities concurrently contribute to children's early numeracy skills through numeracy interest.

November 26, 2024

CFF welcomes Leigha MacNeill as a faculty partner!

Leigha MacNeill joins CFF as an Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Science. Research interests include Social-emotional development in the family system and how such trajectories lead to mental health. She is actively aiming to translate developmental knowledge base...

November 14, 2024

CFF welcomes Mark Suchman as a faculty partner!

Mark Suchman joins CFF as a Professor of Sociology. Research interests include The impact of law and legal institutions on social and economic life, with a particular focus on how legal conditions create—or foreclose—opportunities for innovation, entrepreneurship, and technological change.

November 5, 2024

Recording Available – Building Connection, One Table at a Time – The Family Dinner Project Webinar

As part of its 30th anniversary, CFF hosted a webinar featuring Anne Fishel, PhD, to discuss the transformative impact of family meals. Learn how and why to harness the benefits of family dinners, and gain valuable insights.

November 4, 2024

Weathering the storm: How agribusinesses and farms can prepare for natural disasters

Maria Marshall

Major natural disasters, like Hurricanes Helene and Milton, caused severe economic and environmental damage in the southeastern region of the U.S. this fall.

November 4, 2024

Purdue Center for Early Learning finds new research PURPOSE

David Purpura, Sarah Eason

The Purdue University Center for Early Learning (CEL) is pushing the integration of early STEM and non-STEM education research with PURPOSE.

November 4, 2024

Parental warmth and parent–child conflict among U.S. Latinx families in middle childhood

Kim Updegraff

Grounded in family systems theory and using latent profile analysis, the present study examined (a) patterns of parent–child warmth and parent–child conflict within multiple dyads among 305 U.S. Latinx families with fifth graders and younger siblings and tested links of...