Research and News from the Center for Families at Purdue University

December 30, 2023

Temporal Dietary Pattern Cluster Membership Varies on Weekdays and Weekends but Both Link to Health

Libby Richards, Heather Eicher-Miller

Energy and dietary quality are known to differ between weekdays and weekend days. Data-driven approaches that incorporate time, amount and duration of dietary intake have previously been used to partition participant daily weekday dietary intake time series to clusters representing...

December 28, 2023

Do Victims and Perpetrators Justify Intimate Partner Violence Even While They See It Happening in Front of Their Eyes?

Ximena Arriaga

When intimate partner violence occurs, both victims and perpetrators may justify the violence. However, efforts to understand justifying violence typically rely on written descriptions of violent acts or are assessed well after the violence has occurred.

December 26, 2023

Feats: A database of semantic features for early produced noun concepts

Arielle Borovsky

Semantic feature production norms have several desirable characteristics that have supported models of representation and processing in adults. However, several key challenges have limited the use of semantic feature norms in studies of early language acquisition.

December 23, 2023

The role of fathers in child development from preconception to postnatal influences: Opportunities for the National Institutes of Health Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program

Kristine Marceau

A growing body of literature highlights the important role of paternal health and socio-emotional characteristics in child development, from preconception through adolescence.

December 22, 2023

Stress is contagious in relationships – here’s what you can do to support your partner and boost your own health during the holidays and beyond

Rosie Shrout

With the flurry of shopping, spending money and traveling to see family, stress can feel inevitable during the holidays. You might already know stress can affect your own health, but what you may not realize is that your stress –...

December 21, 2023

Parental Accuracy of Reporting Child Sleep Duration: Examining Sleep and Childhood Obesity in Midwestern Latinx Youth

Zoe Taylor

This study examined the relationship between the accuracy of parental reporting of children’s sleep duration compared to objectively measured child sleep and tested whether any discrepancies were related to childhood obesity prevalence in a sample of Latinx families

December 18, 2023

The association between personality, relationship satisfaction, and psychopathology in a three-wave, longitudinal study

Susan South

Personality is an important determinant of many life outcomes including relationship satisfaction and psychopathology. Previous work has demonstrated that broad domains of normal personality have low-to-moderate associations with various forms of psychopathology.

December 14, 2023

General and math vocabulary contributions to early numeracy skills in a large population-representative sample

David Purpura

There are well-documented associations between numeracy development in preschool age children and general and math vocabulary, literacy, and executive functions. However, the studies have largely included small samples of children with parents with either predominantly low or higher socioeconomic background...

December 14, 2023

Dietary intakes of community-dwelling adults in the United States across older adulthood: NHANES 2015-March 2020

Heather Eicher-Miller

Dietary guidance is set based on age and life stage and defines older adults as ≥ 60 years. Yet, little is known about if and/or how diet quality differs beyond age 60.

December 12, 2023

4 subtle signs you’re in the wrong relationship, even if you love your partner

Susan South

Love is a powerful force. But even the most fiery passion can't hold a relationship together that just isn't working. Susan South, a professor of clinical psychology at Purdue University, previously told Business Insider that couples usually spot their differences...