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CSC Child Study Center

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The Child Study Center is dedicated to promoting children’s development and well-being through the dynamic integration of research, undergraduate and graduate training, and engaged community outreach.

We are housed in the Department of Psychology in the College of the Liberal Arts.

The Child Study Center is dedicated to promoting children’s development and well-being through the dynamic integration of research, undergraduate and graduate training, and engaged community outreach.

We are housed in the Department of Psychology in the College of the Liberal Arts.

Events

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Save the date!
August 13, 2026
Tenth Annual Central PA Workshop on Evidence-Based Mental Health Services
Amanda B. Nickerson, PhD, NCSP
University of Buffalo, SUNY
8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., Memorial Lounge, 107 Pasquerilla Spiritual Center
Co-sponsored by the Penn State Psychological Clinic
Please register here.

Save the date!
October 22, 2026
The 2026-2027 Child Study Center’s Lois Bloom Lecture
Daniel S. Shaw, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor
University of Pittsburgh
4:15 p.m., Nittany Lion Inn

News

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Research by former graduate students and Strumpf Scholars Kristine Marceau and Chang Liu and colleagues Lijun Li and Jenae Neiderhiser, and others, found a relationship between mothers smoking during pregnancy and comorbid symptoms and externalizing behaviors among children and adolescents
Researchers, including Orfeu M. Buxton, investigated the unique associations between sleep patterns of middle childhood and later developmental outcomes
Emilia F. Cárdenas and colleagues investigated main effects and interactions of reward processing and birth-related stressors on postpartum internalizing symptoms
Sun, Li, Chow, and Lunkenheimer (2026) examined the development of mothers’ and preschoolers’ self-regulation and coregulation of regulatory physiology from ages 3 to 4, and how harsh parenting impacted these processes
Faculty affiliate Janette Watkins and colleagues investigated the mechanisms underlying body dissatisfaction in young adults

Student Spotlight

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Headshot of Amanda Ramos

Amanda Ramos

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The prenatal environment plays a pivotal role in child development and needs to be better incorporated in broader conceptualizations of developmental etiology.