Human Development and Family Science Option

Grounded in developmental science, the Human Development and Family Science option integrates knowledge from psychology, sociology, and public policy to prepare students for impactful careers that promote health and well-being across the lifespan.

Combine the rigorous core curriculum with courses and hands-on learning to specialize your degree around one of two areas: child, family, and community services or social systems leadership.

Child, family, and community services

For students passionate about working directly with children, youth, families, and communities, this specialization combines lifespan human development knowledge with essential professional skills in ethics, communication, realtionships, and intervention science.

With this specialization, students are well-prepared to pursue careers in:

• Child, youth, family, and aging services​
• Child welfare, foster care, and adoption services
• Early childhood education and intervention

This specialization is also excellent preparation for graduate study in:

• Social work
• Child life
• Counseling (mental health, school, family, or others)
• Clinical psychology

Human development for policy and leadership

For students who want to promote well-being by understanding and improving the systems, policies, and institutions that impact individuals and families, this specialization combines a foundation in lifespan development, ethics, and communication with courses on social policy, analytical thinking, program design, and organization leadership.

With this specialization, students are well-positioned to pursue careers in:

• Non-profit and government program administration
• Human resource administration
• Community and advocacy organization

This specialization is also excellent preparation for graduate study in:

• Public policy
• Program administration
• Human resources
• Family or advocacy law
• Research

Option requirements

In addition to the core requirements, students in the Human Development and Family Sciences option will select courses aligned with career interests to complete the following requirements. For a full list of requirements, see the Penn State Bulletin.