Center for Families

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

May 18, 2023

Two pathways in vocabulary development: Large-scale differences in noun and verb semantic structure

Do noun and verb semantic knowledge in 16–30-month-old children tend to be semantically isolated from one another or semantically interacting from the onset of vocabulary development? In children, evidence suggests that nouns and verbs also have semantic interrelationships, though the...

May 13, 2023

A Scoping Review of Household Factors Contributing to Dietary Quality and Food Security in Low Income Households with School-Age Children in the U.S.

The aim of this scoping review is to identify the contributing household factors to dietary quality and food security in U.S. households of school-aged children 5 to 19 years and synthesize the evidence around emergent themes for application to future...

May 1, 2023

The Role of Peers’ Executive Function and Classroom Quality in Preschoolers’ School Readiness

The present study examined associations between peers' EF and gains in individual children's EF, language, mathematics, and literacy skills across the preschool year, and whether these associations are moderated by classroom quality. Participants included three cohorts of children, their parents,...

May 1, 2023

The relations between teacher-child relationships in preschool and children’s outcomes in kindergarten

This study examined relations between closeness and conflict in the teacher-child relationship in preschool and children's problem behaviors, social skills, and executive function (EF) in kindergarten, and examined if these relations are moderated by parental education.

April 28, 2023

Infant at Work programs focus at Public Health poster session

Master of Public Health (MPH) candidate, Sidney Smith, discussed her Culminating Project the poster session at the end of the semester. Sidney partnered with the Center for Families on her project related to Infant at Work programs.

April 27, 2023

Center for Families announces 2023 Funding Recipients

Center for Families announces the 2023 Funding Recipients – Congratulations faculty and students focused on research about families!

Lorene Burkhart Award for Excellence in Research about Families Annabelle Atkin, PhD, Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Science, College of Health and Human Sciences A qualitative examination of familial racial-ethnic socialization experiences among multiracial American emerging adults. Atkin,...

April 24, 2023

Your suffering is my stressor: Proinflammatory gene expression rises with spousal distress in middle-aged and older couples

Marital quality shares ties to inflammation-related conditions like cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Lab-based studies implicate hostility during marital conflict as a mechanism via inflammatory reactivity, but little attention has been paid to the inflammatory aftermath of other marital exchanges.

April 24, 2023

479 Insomnia and Depression Trajectories in Women with and without Breast Cancer: Protective Effects of Satisfying Relationships

Breast cancer survivors have a high risk for chronic disease and early mortality, especially if their psychological and physical symptoms persist beyond treatment.

April 18, 2023

Supporting families at Spring Fest!

The Center for Families participated in Spring Fest this year where families were able to make bracelets, participate in gratitude challenges, and more. The Department of Human Development and Family Sciences coordinated the activities with CFF, the Center for Early Learning,...

April 18, 2023

Dysfunctional communication patterns can affect immune system function in married couples, study suggests

Research published in Psychoneuroendocrinology has confirmed that negative communication patterns in heterosexual marriages are associated with decreased immune system functioning along with less positive and more negative emotions. The research highlights the physical and emotional consequences for those in marriages...