Current HD Research Projects
Human Development faculty members are involved in a wide range of research topics on children, adolescents, their families, and their communities. These interdisciplinary projects provide undergraduate and graduate students with numerous opportunities to actively participate in cutting-edge research on important topics. Students can participate as volunteers, for course credit, and in some cases, for part-time employment. If you are interested in working on any of the projects listed below, please click on the relevant faculty link.
Projects By Campus
Pullman | Spokane | Vancouver
Pullman Campus Projects
Adolescent Sexual Behavior
Jenifer McGuire is studying influences on adolescent sexual behavior, sexual attitudes and reports of pregnancy. One project includes assessments of parenting style and its link to onset of sexual intercourse. Another project examines the role of acculturation in predicting adolescent sexual behavior and pregnancy. And a final study evaluates the effectiveness of sex education programs in reducing teens’ risks for pregnancy. Kathleen Rodgers is working with Jenifer McGuire and a colleague at the University of Arizona to understand the role of broad contexts (e.g., poverty, violence) in relation to adolescent sexual health.
Children's Play
Brenda Boyd, Ruth Newberry, and Tom Power are conducting research at the Department of Human Development's Child Development Laboratory on children's locomotor play that examines the degree to which play provides training for coping with the unexpected.
Families in Poverty
Working with the Fragile Families national longitudinal data set, Kathleen Rodgers is examining family structure, family processes, and child health outcomes among parents and children who live in poverty. Current projects include two master's theses. One thesis focuses on the interaction of family structure and couple processes in relation to risk for child maltreatment. Another thesis looks at parenting processes and family structure in relation to school readiness among the Latino subsample. These and other studies from the data will identify the challenges and resiliency of families that live in poverty.
Family and Peer Interaction Study
Dr. Nicole Werner is currently conducting a short-term longitudinal study of 4-6 year-old children and their mothers. This study focuses on how mothers support children's peer competence (aggression, prosocial behavior, peer acceptance, friendships) during early childhood. We use multiple methods to study parent-child and child-peer relationships, including naturalistic observation of children’s behavior in preschools, structured interviews with children, semi-structured observation in the laboratory, and surveys. This research is funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Family Life and Study: Interparental Discord and Child Stress
The primary goal of this study, conducted by Dr. Patricia Pendry, is to better understand how exposure to interparental conflict in infancy and early childhood is associated with child maladjustment in socioemotional and behavioral domains, with an emphasis on discovering a physiological pathway (e.g., child stress hormone levels, sleep) by which interparental conflict leads to child maladjustment. A second goal is to examine if relatively stable child characteristics (e.g., negative emotionality) can help explain why some children exposed to family conflict are negatively affected, while others are not, or less so. A third goal is to examine if young children exhibit differential physiological reactions to witnessing interparental discord based on the nature of parental disagreement (e.g., content, style).
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Youth Well-being
Jenifer McGuire is working on projects to examine several aspects of well-being among LGBT youth. One study, utilizing data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health examines mental health symptoms and access to mental health services among LGBT youth. Another study evaluates the functions of community centers in supporting transgender adolescents. A third project examines school climates for LGBT youth and steps that schools can take to create a safer environment for all youth.
Music Media Project
Kathleen Rodgers, Tom Power and colleagues in the College of Communication are exploring the relation of music media on gender-role attitudes, alcohol and tobacco expectancies, and sexual-risk orientation among high school and college students.
Obesity Prevention
In collaboration with Ruth Bindler and Kenn Daratha at WSU Spokane, and Michael Steele, Department of Psychology, Tom Power is involved in a USDA-funded obesity prevention program in the Spokane schools. The purpose of the project, TEAMS (Teen Eating and Activity Mentoring in the Schools), is to compare the effectiveness of environmental modifications and adult mentoring on the prevention of obesity in middle school children.
Preschool Children's Physiological Reactivity
Jared Lisonbee is involved in research examining preschool children's physiological reactivity in early childcare and education settings. Many preschoolers show stress hormone increases across the day while in out-of-home care. Dr. Lisonbee is examining how the classroom context and social relationships with teachers and peers contribute to children's physiological activity while in care. This information can be used to identify potential stressors in early classroom settings and identify processes involved in how children's early education experience may shape later learning and development.
Relational Aggression
Nicole Werner is engaged in several research studies that focus on the development of relational aggression, a form of aggression characterized by attempts to harm others through purposeful damage to peer relationships and feelings of social inclusion. In a series of studies, Dr. Werner and her graduate students are exploring direct and indirect parental influences on young children's relational aggression using observational and survey methodologies. She is testing a model in which mothers' cognitions about relational aggression predict parenting practices focused on relational aggression, which in turn influence children's developing social cognitions and behavior. As a part of the School Climate Project (below), Dr. Werner is studying parent and child social cognition as it relates to the use of relational aggression among school-aged children.
School Climate Project
Matt Bumpus, Laura Hill, Nicole Werner, and Tom Power are collaborating on the School Climate Project-an ongoing study of elementary school children and their parents, examining the connections between children's motivation, peer interactions, and family relationships. Topics being investigated in the project include parental monitoring (Bumpus), school attachment (Hill), relational aggression (Werner), and parental influences on children's coping with stress (Power).
Strengthening Families Program
Laura Hill is conducting a longitudinal study of the implementation, dissemination, and outcomes of an evidence-based model program (the Strengthening Families Program for Parents and Youth 10-14) in Washington State. In partnership with WSU Extension field faculty and with the Washington State Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse, Dr. Hill is examining the behavior of a model substance abuse prevention program as it moves from a controlled research context to a real-world implementation. Students working on this project gain experience in data entry and analysis, production of outcome reports for program providers, mail surveys and phone interviews. Marcelo Diversi has joined the SFP project to assist in the development of culturally relevant implementation and evaluation among Latino participants.
The Role of Family Interactions in Child and Young Adult Health Behaviors
Laura Hill is collaborating with colleague Joan Orrell-Valente at UCSF in a study of how parent-child interactions affect the health behaviors (including overeating, sexual behavior, and eating disorders) of children and young adults.
WA Community Resources Assessment - SPF-SIG Project
Nicole Werner is working with the Washington State Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse (DASA) to document the dosage of prevention resources in communities across the state. This project is a part of the larger Strategic Prevention Framework - State Initiative Grant (SPF-SIG) awarded to Washington with the goal of reducing underage drinking in 12 intervention communities. The results of the Community Resource Assessment will be integrated with results of the Healthy Youth Survey to help us understand the impact SPF-SIG funding in the intervention communities is having on youth substance use.
Spokane Campus Projects
Child and Family Research Unit
Chris Blodgett (WSU Spokane) directs the Child and Family Research Unit - a research unit with ongoing research programs at the national and state level addressing child care needs assessment, domestic violence prevention, and child neglect and abuse.
Vancouver Campus Projects
Disenfranchised Youth: Growing up at the Margins
Marcelo Diversi has been conducting ethnographic research with youth growing up in oppressive developmental contexts. He has worked with Brazilian street youth and Latino undocumented immigrant youth and families in northern Utah, and is currently working with runaway and homeless youth in Southwest Washington. Prof. Diversi’s research focuses on narratives of identity, educational views and practices, and the politics of representation and knowledge production in Human Development.
ENcouraging Healthy Activity and Nutrition in Childcare (ENHANCE) Project
Jane Lanigan is the lead investigator for ENHANCE, a community based obesity prevention research project involving six different types of early learning settings. The three year pilot evaluates a nonprescriptive model for improving healthy eating and physical activity practices in child care and for increasing health communication and information sharing between early learning professionals and families.
Ethnographic Research Hutterite Colonies
Suzanne Smith has been doing ethnographic research on a communal, religious Anabaptist group called the Hutterites for the last decade. The Hutterites believe in four basic principles: (1) baptizing babies is not biblical, (2) the Bible requires the separation of church and state, (3) a Christian should not wield the sword, and (4) a community of goods. Research projects have included the role of never married women on colonies, the role of discipline in child rearing, and the influence of the “outside world” on colony life. Suzanne spends several weeks each year living and working on colonies while also conducting research.
Implementation of a Collaborative Care Model: Improving Management of Depression in Primary Care
Cory Bolkan is working with Veterans Affairs (VA) colleagues under the Translating Initiatives for Depression into Effective Solutions (TIDES) and the Well-Being Among Veterans Enhancement Study (WAVES) projects. TIDES is an evidence-based model of care for veterans with depression that involves collaboration between primary care providers and mental health specialists with support from a depression care manager. These multi-site studies were primarily designed to assess how the VA nationwide could implement collaborative care for depression. In addition, the research team is exploring relationships between psychosocial variables (i.e., patient perceptions, social support) and health outcomes.
Personality, Health, and Successful Aging
Cory Bolkan is engaged in several research studies to examine how social-cognitive aspects of personality are linked to physical and mental health in older adults. She has specifically explored how goal pursuits (as measured by possible selves) may be risk or protective factors for late-life depression. In addition, she is exploring how future health goals may motivate older adults to engage in daily health-related behaviors. Goal engagement has been established as an important factor in well-being across the lifespan however, more research is necessary to clarify this relationship in later life and to translate these findings to feasible clinical interventions
Rural Families Speak Project
As a part of multi-state longitudinal research, Yoshie Sano is examining family well-being and functioning of rural low-income families. This 10-year-project takes multidisciplinary approach and has been collaborated by researchers in 17 states. The project covers wide variety of topics including childcare, community, economic well-being, ethnicity, family structure, food security, housing, parenting, physical and mental health, public policy, social support, and transportation. More information about the project can be found at http://fsos.cehd.umn.edu/projects/rfs.html.
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