Research and News from the Center for Families at Purdue University

December 12, 2024

Relationship Dynamics and Young Women’s Contraceptive Use

Christie Sennott

Research from sub-Saharan Africa has shown that women’s relationships and partners influence their contraceptive use. Most relevant studies focus on relationship status with few considering how the quality of a relationship might influence women’s use of contraceptives.

December 11, 2024

MFRI Announces Winner of Barbara Thompson Excellence in Research on Military and Veteran Families Award

MFRI named a groundbreaking study on the connections between childhood trauma, stressors and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in military couples as the winner of the 2024 Barbara Thompson Excellence in Research on Military and Veteran Families Award.

December 9, 2024

Consider agritourism for farm growth

Maria Marshall

An Indiana family successfully expanded their farming operation with an agritourism business, positively impacting themselves and the community.

December 9, 2024

How EASI can it be? Closing the research-to-practice gap via population-based validation of the MAPS-EASI 2.0 early childhood irritability screener for translation to clinical use.

Leigha MacNeill

Dysregulated irritability is the most robust early childhood transdiagnostic predictor of psychopathology. However, this evidence has failed to translate to practice due to a dearth of efficient, developmentally based screening tools.

December 6, 2024

Food donations can focus on nutrition, not just hunger

Heather Eicher-Miller

Food donations are on the minds of many people, especially around the holidays, as collection drives pop up to help food banks, pantries and people in need.

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...