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Undergraduate
- Major in Human Development and Family Studies
- Associate Degree in Human Development and Family Studies
- Minor in Human Development and Family Studies
- Honors Study in Human Development and Family Studies
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Cross Cutting Themes of Research
- Adolescence and Young Adulthood
- Child Maltreatment
- Cognitive Health
- Computational Methods for Developmental Systems Models
- Determinants and Promotion of Well-Being
- Development and Family Processes in International Contexts
- Developmental Neuroscience
- Family Systems and Processes
- Gender and Development
- Health and Family Processes
- Healthy Aging
- Influences of Stress on Development and Aging
- Longitudinal Methodologies/Designs for Studying Change and Variability
- Parenting, Parent-Child Relations, and Child Outcomes
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Human Development and Family Studies — Graduate Program

Penn State’s innovative doctoral program in Human Development and Family Studies takes a true lifespan approach to examining the complex intersection of human development and societal relationships, offering choices in core research areas, along with a rich variety of dynamic cross-cutting research themes.
Throughout your doctoral training, you’ll take a broad and deep personalized selection of courses offered by some of the world’s best developmental and family scientists — and have the opportunity to participate in hands-on research and assistantships that will further develop vital critical thinking, writing, and teaching skills. As a graduate, you’ll be well positioned to become a leader in developmental and/or family science, the emerging field of social data analytics, academia, government, or applied and policy-related research institutes, and a wide variety of other careers focused on helping others lead more productive and gratifying lives.
Students admitted to the doctoral program in HDFS have the option of pursuing a dual-title doctoral degree in 4 possible domains of specialization
- Dual-title Ph.D. in HDFS and Demography
- Dual-title Ph.D. in HDFS and Social Data Analytics
- Dual-title Ph.D. in HDFS and Social Behavioral Neuroscience
- Dual-title Ph.D. in Clinical Translational Science