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.