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"We analyzed a population-representative cohort (N = 13,611; Mage at kindergarten, first, and second grade = 67.5, 79.5, and 91.5 months, respectively) to identify kindergarten to second grade factors predictive of being bullies or victims during third to fifth grade."
Headshot of Paul Morgan
Headshot of Paul Morgan
Racial and ethnic disparities in advanced mathematics and science achievement occur as early as kindergarten, much earlier than previously thought, according to a new study led by a Penn State College of Education researcher.
Headshot of Paul Morgan
Headshot of Paul Morgan
“Our hope is that by examining the connection between intergenerational trauma and substance use, we can expand upon and target interventions to groups of people who are already understudied and underserved. And it is critical to underscore that this is a first step, but much more work is needed,” said Jones.
Headshot of Abenaa Jones
Headshot of Abenaa Jones
"Based on a strong scientific foundation, this paper outlines a strategy for the implementation of public health policies and prevention services that address opioid use and, in effect, the use and abuse of all psychoactive substances that negatively impact individuals, their families, and communities."
Headshot of Diana Fishbein
Headshot of Diana Fishbein
Robin Kephart and Nancy English celebrated major milestones of consecutive years at Penn State during the Liberal Arts Staff Awards program.
A photo of the Penn State Nittany Lion Shrine.
A photo of the Penn State Nittany Lion Shrine.
Penn State recently received a $1.3 million, two-year grant from the Substance Use and Mental Health Services Administration to work with leadership teams in five states to prevent opioid misuse in rural communities.
Headshot of Janet Welsh
Headshot of Janet Welsh
"Dr. Feinberg asserts that the most accurate predictor of happiness and wellness in your life is the type of relationship that you have with your sibling simply because it is the longest relationship you will ever have."
Headshot of Mark Feinberg
Headshot of Mark Feinberg
The mentored faculty fellows program supports the career development of early career Penn State faculty in social and behavioral sciences to engage in new areas of research and/or the development of new interdisciplinary collaborations aimed at building sustainable research and securing external funding.
Headshot of Jimena Cosso
Headshot of Jimena Cosso
Dr. Witherspoon is a McCourtney Family Early Career Professor of Psychology and Associate Professor at Penn State University. She also serves as Director of Parents And Children Together (PACT), a Penn State University Park research initiative.
Headshot of Dawn Witherspoon
Headshot of Dawn Witherspoon
"Food reinforcement or one's motivation to eat may be established early in life; it might not be the food reinforcement per se that drives weight gain, but rather the imbalance between food and nonfood reinforcement."
Headshot of Rina Das Eiden
Headshot of Rina Das Eiden
To foster new research and policies that support successful co-parenting, Penn State Research Professor Mark Feinberg recently established the International Center for Coparenting Policy and Research (ICOPAR).
Headshot of Mark Feinberg
Headshot of Mark Feinberg
A new, national institute that develops artificial intelligence (AI) systems that identify and assist young children with speech and/or language processing challenges has been established at the University at Buffalo thanks to a five-year, $20 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The institute includes researchers from nine universities, including Penn State.
Headshot of Carol Miller
Headshot of Carol Miller
Pennsylvania State University--World Campus, a public institution, has been offering online bachelor's degree programs since 2000-2001.
US News online program logo
US News online program logo
We are pleased to welcome Robin Kephart as a new staff member here at the Child Study Center!
Headshot of Robin Kephart
Headshot of Robin Kephart
"The obesogenic food environment includes easy access to highly-palatable, energy-dense, 'ultra-processed' foods that are heavily marketed to consumers; therefore, it is critical to understand the neurocognitive processes the underlie overeating in response to environmental food-cues."
Headshot of Alaina Pearce
Headshot of Alaina Pearce
“The time when couples are expecting is a golden opportunity for them to decide how they will establish healthy habits as a family,” said Mark Feinberg, research professor of health and human development at Penn State's Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center.
Headshot of Mark Feinberg
Headshot of Mark Feinberg
"The present study examined the associations between specific facets of negative affect, college stressors, and craving among young adult college students in substance use disorder recovery."
Headshot of Sunhye Bai
Headshot of Sunhye Bai
Children exposed to adversity are at increased risk for underachievement in reading; however, how early that risk appears and the mechanisms underlying that risk are unclear.
Headshot of Yo Jackson
Headshot of Yo Jackson
"The implications for educational policy and practice are significant because the findings suggest that even when a child might be at genetic risk for reduced reading achievement, rearing environments can have a positive effect on indicators of reading."
Headshot of Jenae Neiderhiser
Headshot of Jenae Neiderhiser
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) parents raise well-adjusted children. How do they accomplish this feat despite stigma and discrimination?
Headshot of Samantha Tornello
Headshot of Samantha Tornello
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted countless facets of everyday life during the past three years — including the invaluable work being done by faculty and staff members affiliated with Penn State’s Parents And Children Together (PACT) initiative.
Members of PACT standing side-by-side
Members of PACT standing side-by-side
“There’s no evidence of inherent, biologically based sex differences in cleanliness or messiness,” says Susan McHale, a professor of human development and family studies at Penn State.
Headshot of Susan McHale
Headshot of Susan McHale
On average, students experience an estimated total of 102 alcohol-related consequences, such as blacking out, being hung over, or missing work or school, due to drinking across their four years in college, according to a new study led by Penn State.
Headshot of Rob Turrisi
Headshot of Rob Turrisi
Children in the United States may be exposed to a high rate of adverse experiences that result in post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), which can appear as feelings of stress, fear and helplessness that result from re-experiencing trauma or actively avoiding reminders of the trauma.
Headshot of Yo Jackson
Headshot of Yo Jackson
Over the last decade, Penn State and the College of Health and Human Development have become national leaders in child abuse research, hiring multiple research faculty, conducting groundbreaking research studies, educating lawmakers, and training thousands of Pennsylvanians to prevent abuse.
Headshot of Jennie Noll
Headshot of Jennie Noll
A new study led by Paul Morgan, Harry and Marion Eberly Faculty Fellow and professor of education (educational theory and policy) and demography, and published in the Journal of Learning Disabilities, examines which sociodemographic groups of children are more likely to be overdiagnosed and overtreated for ADHD.
Headshot of Paul Morgan
Headshot of Paul Morgan
"This study examined whether caregiver emotion coaching, caregiver-adolescent closeness, and friendship quality were associated with adolescents’ emotion levels, emotion variability, and emotion network density. Further, we examined whether caregiver-adolescent closeness moderated the associations between coaching and emotion dynamics."
Headshot of Erika Lunkenheimer
Headshot of Erika Lunkenheimer
“The SRCD U.S. Policy Fellowship Programs include placement opportunities in federal congressional offices as well as federal and state executive branch agencies. The purpose of the fellowship programs is to provide researchers with immersive opportunities to learn about policy development, implementation, and evaluation, and to use their research skills in child development to inform public policy at the federal or state level.”
Graphic for Society for Research in Child Development
Graphic for Society for Research in Child Development
“Our research showed that parenting can change a lot during the teenage years: parents often express less warmth and affection, spend less time with their teens, and become more harsh in their discipline. Parents that were able to maintain positive parenting and involvement laid the foundation for a close relationship when their teens became adults,” said Fosco, who was co-principal investigator on the study.
Headshot of Gregory Fosco
Headshot of Gregory Fosco
Researchers at Penn State’s Child Maltreatment Solutions Network analyzed the costs related to implementing a child sexual abuse prevention program in schools in a new study.
Headshot of Jennie Noll
Headshot of Jennie Noll
"Childhood sexual abuse can lead to depression, anxiety, cardiovascular disease, and other health problems later in life. Not all abused children experience these problems, however, and researchers are working to understand whose health is affected and why."
Headshot of Chad Shenk
Headshot of Chad Shenk
"Findings presented herein may be used to inform future universal child sexual abuse prevention efforts by providing detailed information about the costs of large-scale implementation of an evidence-based program among elementary-aged children."
Headshot of Jennie Noll
Headshot of Jennie Noll
Penn State ranks in the top 50 in 16 subject area rankings and in the top 100 in the world in an additional 14 subjects, according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities.
A photo of the Penn State Nittany Lion Shrine.
A photo of the Penn State Nittany Lion Shrine.
This study used a randomized clinical trial design to evaluate the success with which The Building a Strong Identity and Coping Skills intervention (BaSICS) engaged the proximal mechanisms of poverty-related stress’s impact on the psychosocial functioning and mental health of young adolescents living in high poverty contexts.
Headshot of Martha Wadsworth
Headshot of Martha Wadsworth
"Pubertal synchrony is defined as the degree of coherence to which puberty-related body changes (e.g., breast development, growth spurt, voice change, underarm hair growth) are coordinated. During the pubertal transition, youth’s body parts grow asynchronously, making each youth’s physical appearance unique."
Headshot of Jenae Neiderhiser
Headshot of Jenae Neiderhiser
"In this study, we utilize a subsample of PROSPER participants and their partners who had participated in a home-based assessment for a study of the intergenerational impact of PROSPER in the two years prior to the pandemic onset."
Headshot of Mark Feinberg
Headshot of Mark Feinberg
When children suffer abuse or neglect, the effects can follow them through adolescence and well into adulthood. But do different types of child maltreatment, such as physical abuse, sexual abuse or neglect, result in symptoms that show up at different ages?
Headshot of Benjamin Bayly
Headshot of Benjamin Bayly
Adolescent depression and behavior problems are on the rise and paternal depression may be contributing to this increase, regardless of whether the fathers and children are genetically related, according to new research from Penn State and Michigan State.
Headshot of Jenae Neiderhiser
Headshot of Jenae Neiderhiser
"The more consistently children got 10+ hours of sleep during the night, the better the children's peer relationships, relationships with their teachers, overall academic performance, and sight recognition of words and letters," said lead study author Douglas Teti.
Headshot of Douglas M Teti
Headshot of Douglas M Teti
"New insights into mechanisms linking obesity to poor health outcomes suggest a role for cellular aging pathways, casting obesity as a disease of accelerated biological aging. Although obesity has been linked to accelerated epigenetic aging in middle-aged adults, the impact during childhood remains unclear."
Headshot of Jennie Noll
Headshot of Jennie Noll
"Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) overdiagnosis and overtreatment unnecessarily exposes children to potential harm and contributes to provider and community skepticism toward those with moderate or severe symptoms and significant impairments, resulting in less supportive care. Yet which sociodemographic groups of children are overdiagnosed and overtreated for ADHD is poorly understood."
Headshot of Paul Morgan
Headshot of Paul Morgan