Human Development & Family Sciences

Health and wellbeing throughout the lifespan

Lives in Context

The Human Development and Family Sciences department at UT Austin is consistently ranked among the top five HDFS departments in the nation. Our department has significant strengths in the areas of parenting, child and adolescent development, personal relationships, the development and maintenance of intimate relationships and individual development in social contexts such as poverty, families, race/ethnicity and education. 
 

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Stories


Research

Better Sleep Can Reduce Worry and Rumination in Older Adults

People’s perceptions of their sleep also proves to have stronger associations with their worry and rumination than objective sleep quality monitored with a device.

Older man sitting in dark room with hand on back of neck looking tired.

Research

First Recognition of Self in the Mirror Is Spurred by Touch

New evidence reveals that young children learn self-awareness through experiences of touch.

A toddler gazes at herself in the mirror and smiles.

Research

Caregiving Can Be Stressful, But It Could Also Lower Risk of Depression

Becoming a caregiver to an older relative can decrease risk of depression.

An elderly woman, right, is embraced by a younger woman, left.

Research

The Neighborhood You Grow Up in May Impact Your Cognitive Health Decades Later

Jean Choi, Elizabeth Muñoz and collaborators identified associations between neighborhood cohesion and cognitive health.

A child's sense of neighborhood cohesion could impact their cognitive health later in life.

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