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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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Research
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Research Expertise
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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
- Socio-Cultural and Economic Diversity
- Substance Use
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Research Labs and Initiatives
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- Methodology Consulting Center
- Quantitative Developmental Systems
- Study of Healthy Aging and Applied Research Programs
- Child Brain Development Lab
- Infant and Child Temperament Lab
- PA Twin Registry
- Project SIESTA
- Family Relationships Project
- Daily Stress and Health Study
- University Life Study
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Research

Devoted to interdisciplinary research, lifespan development, and disease prevention, the research initiatives in Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State seek to expand society’s understanding of how cultural influences impact both individuals and families over the long term — and a variety of related topics of interest.
Leveraging an array of state-of-the-art research facilities and tools, our world-class research team is dedicated to exploring six different and distinct areas affecting a wide array of disciplines: family development, individual childhood development, adolescent development, adult and aging development, intervention and prevention, and research methodology.