Infancy and Childhood

Children’s experiences in infancy and across childhood set the stage for development throughout the life course. Understanding how children develop and what aspects of their relationships with others and of their environments are most promotive of development are key questions considered by the HDFS faculty.

Maria Arredondo investigates the mechanisms supporting infants and young children's language learning, with a focus on bilingualism.

Aprile Benner studies young children’s experiences of the transition into formal K-12 schooling and the school characteristics and interpersonal processes that facilitate or hinder successful entry into elementary school.

Elizabeth Gershoff studies how early childhood programs can improve the school readiness and overall health of low income and at risk children. She currently has funding from NICHD to study the mediators and moderators of the impacts of the federal Head Start program on young children, using several nationally collected datasets of children in Head Start.

Deborah Jacobvitz examines the adjustment of infants and young children who have experienced abuse and neglect as well as emotionally attuned and sensitive caregiving.  She studies a range of outcomes including the attachments that children form with their caregivers and their ability to regulate their behavior and emotions.

Nicole Perry studies the development of self-regulatory processes, particularly the regulation of emotion, during infancy and early childhood. Her research investigates how early self-regulatory mechanisms across levels of functioning (i.e., biological, behavioral, environmental) build upon and integrate with one another to influence adaptation in emotional, social, and cognitive domains. Her work is grounded in a developmental science perspective and aims to address longitudinal and bidirectional questions of developmental processes.

Stephen Russell studies mental health, academic success, and well-being in children. His research focuses on the roles of families and schools as contexts for development, and he is particularly interested in the potential of policies and programs to promote contexts in which children can thrive.

Adolescence and Young Adulthood

Adolescence is a time of rapid physical, social, emotional, and cognitive growth. It is during this developmental period that young people are figuring out who they are and where they fit in. Historical and cultural changes across the past 100 years have essentially extended these identity tasks into young adulthood. HDFS faculty are interested in all facets of adolescents’ and young adults’ development, and they place particular attention to how environmental settings shape young people’s growth.

Aprile Benner studies young people’s academic, social, and emotional growth and how social contexts influence school transitions, experiences of marginalization and discrimination, and health behaviors. Her research is particularly focused on the experiences of low-income and racial/ethnic minority adolescents and young adults.

Karen Fingerman studies the transition to adulthood and young adults’ relationships with their parents. Her research has explored how parental support may help (or hinder) young adults’ adjustment and psychological well-being. She has examined estrangement from parents in early adulthood, “helicopter parents,” the effects of the Great Recession on young adults and their parents, and young adults’ daily experiences with their parents. Her research also includes salivary stress hormones and biomarkers of stress reactions in young adulthood. Her cross-cultural research on young adulthood includes samples from Germany, Hong Kong, and Korea.

Elizabeth Gershoff explores how the contexts in which adolescents and young adults develop impact their psychological and behavioral health and their academic achievement. She has studied a variety of contexts, including schools, neighborhoods, and policy environments, with a particular focus on the short and long-term impacts of violence exposure, in its many forms, on the healthy development of adolescents and young adults.

Deborah Jacobvitz draws on data from a 20-year longitudinal study to examine continuity and change in young adults’ relationships with their parents and the effects of early experience on the quality of their current romantic relationships.

Su Yeong Kim studies how Chinese American children transition from adolescence to young adulthood and how they negotiate their relationships with their parents during this transition.

Elma Lorenzo-Blanco studies the influence of sociocultural and gender-related factors on the emotional and behavioral health of Latina/o youth and young adults in the U.S. and Latin America. She is particularly interested in the potential of preventive programs and community practices to promote the emotional and behavioral health of Latina/os.

Nicole Perry studies how biological stress markers are associated with adolescents' emotional and behavioral control in contexts that are both socially and emotionally challenging.

Stephen Russell studies mental health, academic success, and well-being in adolescents and young adults. His research focuses on the roles of families and schools as contexts for development, and he is particularly interested in the potential of policies and programs to promote contexts in which young people can thrive. Most of his work has focused on intersections of marginalization, with particular emphasis on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) youth.

Fatima Varner studies how parenting relates to African American adolescents’ academic achievement and socioemotional development. Recently, she has been exploring factors related to gender disparities in achievement among African American adolescents.

Adult Development and Aging

Increased longevity over the past century has doubled the period of adulthood. Although adults may experience declines in physical and cognitive functioning over time, they often experience improvements in their social and emotional well-being. Faculty in HDFS examine the interplay between psychological, social, and physical aspects of adult development. For example, they research such topics as how family may serve to bolster physical or mental health in late life, and by contrast, how psychological disorders may be associated with diminished physical well-being during this time in the life course. 

Karen Fingerman studies social and emotional aspects of adult development and aging. Her studies cover the period from the transition to adulthood to late, late life. 

Marci Gleason is interested in how pathological personality traits present in older adults and the influence such traits have on health and relationship functioning as individuals age.

Sae Hwang Han studies the health consequences of social engagement in later life, with a particular interest in examining helping behaviors (e.g., volunteering, informal helping, caregiving) that benefit both those who receive help and the helper, as well as the wider community as a whole.

Eizabeth Muñoz studies the link between stress and cognitive aging. She is particularly interested in understanding how stressful contexts across the lifespan accumulate to influence cognitive health in adulthood and how these associations are shaped by biological predispositions and cultural factors.

Lisa Neff is interested in understanding differences in the way older versus younger adults approach dating and marriage. She is especially interested in examining how the manner in which couples navigate relationship difficulties may change as we age.

Faculty and graduate students have the opportunity to join the Aging Network at UT Austin, of an interdisciplinary group of scholars who study cutting edge issues in the field of aging: Aging Network

Graduate students in HDFS also have the opportunity to complete the Portfolio in Aging and Health during their doctoral studies: Aging and Health Portfolio

Parenting and Caregiving

Children’s first, and longest lasting, relationships are with their parents. The faculty in HDFS are committed to understanding how parent-child relationships develop in the early years of life, change over subsequent years, and persist into adulthood. They are also interested in how the act of being a parent affects adults’ own functioning and relationships with their partners and co-parents.

Karen Fingerman studies parent-child relationships in adulthood. She directs the only ongoing longitudinal study of 3-generation families in the world with young adults, their parents, and their grandparents. This project includes a global survey, daily diary surveys, and salivary samples, providing insights into complexities in the parent-child tie at different ages and over time. 

Elizabeth Gershoff studies how parenting behaviors, particularly disciplinary behaviors, affect children’s social and emotional development. She is an internationally recognized expert in the negative effects of physical punishment on children. 

Marci Gleason is interested in the role parenting plays in committed relationships. She studies how the transition to parenthood and family activities influence couple functioning.

Deborah Jacobvitz addresses why parents parent the way they do and identifies patterns of caregiving that are critical for the optimal development in children. For example, she has published studies on the developmental origins, correlates and outcomes of sensitive care, parental withdrawal and parent-child role-reversal.

Su Yeong Kim studies parenting of adolescents among by both mothers and fathers in Mexican American and Chinese American families.

Elma Lorenzo-Blanco examines how family values and family relationships influence the emotional and behavioral health of Latina/o youth, parents, and adults. She is particularly interested in understanding how diverse contexts impact family values and family relationships. For example, in some of her research, she examines how cultural stressors (i.e., discrimination, acculturative stress, and a negative context of reception) shape family relationships, and how family relationships, in turn, impact the emotional and behavioral health of parents and adolescents.

Nicole Perry investigates how normative and adverse caregiving contexts both influence, and are influenced by, the development of young children’s emotional, behavioral, and biological self-regulatory skills.

Stephen Russell studies family economic stress and how it shapes parent-child relationships in the transition from adolescence to young adulthood. His studies consider implications for risk behaviors such as substance use and abuse, as well as cultural differences in these family processes.

Fatima Varner studies the role of parenting in adolescent academic achievement and socioemotional development. She also explores how contextual factors such as socioeconomic resources and discrimination influence parents’ behaviors and mental health.

Interpersonal Relationships

Our faculty are interested in the factors that affect the formation, maintenance, and (sometimes) deterioration of personal and family relationships throughout life. We explore a wide variety of personal relationships, including friendships, family relationships (e.g., parent-child relationships, in-laws, siblings), romantic liaisons (e.g., causal hook-ups, dating relationships) and marriages. Collectively, we adopt a wide range of methodological and theoretical approaches. Regardless of the type of relationship being scrutinized, the theories guiding the work, or the methods employed, the impact relationship and life transitions have on interpersonal relationship dynamics is a key focus across many faculty labs.

Karen Fingerman studies age differences in personal relationships across adulthood. Her research includes parent-child ties in adulthood, romantic ties, and non-family ties. She has analyzed "big data" with her doctoral student to examine age differences in romantic relationships. She is currently conducting research investigating older adults' social ties using experience sampling and ecologically-valid measurement techniques such as actigraphs and electronically-activated recorders.

Marci Gleason studies the role of social support in couple functioning when couples are experiencing stressful life circumstances such as first time parenthood and serious family illness.

Sae Hwang Han's research examines dyadic processes underlying coupled individuals' health behaviors and health outcomes in mid- and late-life, demonstrating how individuals draw from one's own and partner's social relationships for the betterment of health.

Deborah Jacobvitz draws on Bowlby and Ainsworth’s attachment theory to study couple communication, relationship loss and grieving, and attachment-related mental processes. For example, she has published papers on how couple communication changes over the transition to first-time parenthood and its effects on parents’ well being.

Lisa Neff studies how marriages change and develop over time. Her work explores the relational processes, both cognitive and behavioral, that predict whether initially satisfying marriages remain happy or deteriorate during the early years of marriage. 

Stephen Russell has studied sexuality and romantic relationships among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) youth and young adults.

Hannah Williamson studies intimate relationships including marriage and non-marital childbearing. Her work focuses on understanding relationship processes that lead to satisfaction versus deterioration/dissolution, with a focus on behavioral processes and contextual influences.

Health and Biobehavioral Processes

HDFS faculty who are interested in health and biobehavioral processes seek to understand how individuals’ relationships and social experiences are associated with their health and well-being. Researchers examine a variety of physiological processes including salivary hormones, genetic predispositions, and daily symptoms that are associated with people’s behaviors, emotions, and experiences. Faculty also investigate how experiences and interactions with important others in individual’s lives impact mental health and risky health behaviors.

Maria Arredondo uses fNIRS neuroimaging technology to understand the developing brain and networks supporting language and cognition. 

Aprile Benner explores the mental and physical health consequences of adolescents’ experiences in their proximal contexts (schools, homes, neighborhoods). Her current work investigates how discrimination and marginalization gets under the skin to affect biological processes, including stress and inflammatory response, as well as physical health response (e.g., cardiovascular disease risk, sleep quality) and risky health behaviors.

Karen Fingerman studies 3-generation families using daily diary approaches and assessments of salivary hormones. She also collaborates on a study of older adults’ daily activities, social and cognitive functioning using actigraphic and fMRI technologies. 

Sae Hwang Han is interested in understanding how various forms of social engagement get under the skin to influence health outcomes in later life, based on biomarkers of stress-response and inflammation as well as genetic data.

Deborah Jacobvitz examines the role of early experience in a variety of childhood behavior problems. She has published studies on how temperament and early parental care contribute to the development of depression, anxiety and ADHD in school children. She has also published studies on relations between adults’ attachment-related mental processes and their emotional and physical health.

Su Yeong Kim examines how language brokering in Mexican American families relates to family members’ health.

Elma Lorenzo-Blanco investigates how experiences related to culture, gender, and inequality influence mental and behavioral health outcomes among Latina/os in the U.S. and Latin America. She is particularly interested in the potential of social-justice oriented preventive interventions to promote emotional and behavioral health outcomes among Latina/os.

Lisa Neff is interested in the links between marital exchanges (e.g., conflict resolution, social support, etc.) and individual’s physiological functioning, as well as in how the stress of health problems may alter relationship dynamics. 

Nicole Perry explores how caregiving facilitates early brain, hormonal, autonomic, and behavioral development, as well as how these components underpin children’s capacity to regulate their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in ways that support adaptive functioning and mental health. Her current work also investigates the role of young children’s sleep quality and quantity on the development of emotional and attentional control.

Stephen Russell is an expert in adolescent behavioral and mental health. His research was among the first to document health disparities for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) youth and young adults. Ongoing studies of LGBTQ health include a population-based study of school policies and programs and adolescent adjustment; a longitudinal study of risk and protective factors for youth suicide; and a multi-method study to understand generational differences in minority stress and health.

Diversity and Culture

In the past century, the U.S. has witnessed rapid demographic changes that have changed the face of the American population. Simultaneous increases in technology and communication have made the world a much smaller place. Research by HDFS faculty is responsive to our changing world. Our work places attention on many aspects of diversity and culture, including the sociodemographic characteristics of individuals’ environments, differences in how diverse groups of individuals shape and are shaped by these environments, and variations in these processes across diverse geographic regions both nationally and internationally. 

Maria Arredondo investigates how culture supports bilingual children's ethnic identity, language abilities, and success in school.   

Aprile Benner studies variation in young people’s interpersonal interactions and the demographics of their larger developmental contexts and how these relate to outcomes for children and adolescents of different races/ethnicities and socioeconomic strata. In particular, she has studied how the race/ethnic and socioeconomic diversity of schools and neighborhoods influence young people’s development as well as the antecedents and consequences of prejudice, discrimination, and marginalization.

Karen Fingerman has studied young adults’ relationships with their parents in different countries (Germany, Hong Kong, Korea). Her research within the U.S. also considers ethnic differences in family ties across adulthood. 

Elizabeth Gershoff conducts cross-cultural and cross-national research to consider whether there are cultural differences, or cultural universals, in the extent to which parenting practices are associated with child and adolescent outcomes.

Deborah Jacobvitz explores how cultural beliefs and values contribute to parenting. For example, she has published cross-cultural studies examining how qualities of parental caregiving contribute to attachment relations in Korea and the United states.

Su Yeong Kim focuses on how culturally specific factors (acculturation/language brokering) influence the development and well-being of children in immigrant families.

Elma Lorenzo-Blanco’s work focuses on how experiences related to culture, gender, and inequality influence cultural values, family relationships, and well-being among Latina/o youth and families. She has conducted research with Latina/os from diverse sociocultural backgrounds to illuminate differences and similarities in the lived experiences of Latina/os in the U.S. and Latin America.

Elizabeth Muñoz is interested in understanding how culture-specific factors, such as acculturation, influence cognitive health in midlife and older adults.

Stephen Russell is an expert in understanding health disparities for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) youth and young adults. His studies focus on the intersections of personal and social identities including race/ethnicity, gender, social class, and age for shaping personal health and population disparities. In other studies, he has examined cultural differences in family processes that shape adolescent adjustment.

Fatima Varner examines how processes related to ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status influence family processes as well as adolescents’ academic and socioemotional outcomes. In particular, she is interested in the role of discrimination on parenting and adolescent academic achievement.

Hannah Williamson studies how diverse contexts affect the health and development of marital and non-marital intimate relationships, with a particular focus on low-income contexts and their intersectionality with race and culture.

Contexts of Human Development

The HDFS faculty are interested in how contexts outside the family affect individual development. We explore both proximal contexts that individuals experience directly and distal contexts that affect individuals indirectly. In some instances, contexts are closely tied to the physical settings in which individuals spend their time, such as schools, neighborhoods, or workplaces, while in other cases contexts are not defined by a particular physical space but instead are manifested in social trends and opportunities or societal stratification, including socioeconomic resources, the media, or family or social policy.

Maria Arredondo investigates how diverse sociolinguistic and sociocultural contexts support bilingual children's cognition.  

Aprile Benner examines how larger societal stratification systems and more proximal contexts, such as schools and neighborhoods, influence children and adolescents’ well-being. Her work places particular attention on the developmental consequences of matches and mismatches between young people and their  social contexts.   

Elizabeth Gershoff explores a variety of contexts of individual child and youth development, including neighborhoods, schools, early childhood education settings, and public policies. She is particularly interested in the roles played by socioeconomic resources and violence exposure across various settings.

Deborah Jacobvitz has published studies on how the content and structure of early family relationships shape children’s developing representations of emotion and relationships.

Su Yeong Kim studies the intersection of family and cultural contexts in the development of children of immigrants in the United States.  

Elma Lorenzo-Blanco’s research examines how factors related to culture, family, school, neighborhood, and media influence the emotional and behavioral well-being of Latina/o youth, adults, and families in the U.S. and Mexico. One of her current studies examines how globalization-based acculturation influences tobacco use among youth in Mexico.

Elizabeth Muñoz studies neighborhood contexts as a source of chronic stress or resiliency for cognitive functioning across the lifespan. 

Lisa Neff studies how the context of a marriage can shape and constrain marital outcomes. Her work highlights how and when stressors external to a relationship (e.g., work stress, financial difficulties, etc.) may interfere with couples’ capacity to engage in relationship-promoting behaviors, and thereby contribute to marital declines over time.

Nicole Perry studies the impact of early life stress on development, particularly the role of early institutional care on children's subsequent socioemotional health and adaptation. 

Stephen Russell is an applied developmental scientist who is particularly interested in the potential of policies, programs and community practices to promote social justice for children, adolescents, and families. He studies families, schools, and youth engagement in performance and art (poetry, film and visual media) as contexts of adolescent development. Most of his work has focused on policies, programs, and practices that promote the well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) youth.

Fatima Varner examines how family and school contexts influence African American adolescent development.

Hannah Williamson studies the effect of contextual stressors such as unemployment, financial strain, and parenthood on relationships and the best ways to intervene to ameliorate these stressors. Additionally, her work investigates how contextual factors at different levels of analysis, such as neighborhood and country of residence, affect functioning in intimate relationships.