In this project we are collecting and analyzing novel data on the momentary (in a conversation) and daily time scales to link parent-child relationship dynamics occurring during conversations to those occurring across days, which is critical bridge for understanding whether, how, and under which conditions these dynamics translate into longer-term development. Very few studies have simultaneously integrated information from both physiological and emotion assessments in the same model, despite knowing that these are inextricably linked, and we know very little about fathers: >90% of the published data on coordinated emotions or coordinated physiology were from mother-child dyads. Therefore, we are assessing the pattern of mother- and father-child integrated physiological and emotional coordinated responses (called synchrony) across momentary and daily timescales in relation to child psychopathology symptoms. Findings from Aim 1 will identify the features of mother-child and father-child interactions that occur during a conversation that become ingrained when repeated daily. Findings from Aim 2 will identify which of those features are most relevant to improving child mental health outcomes.

Data collection is ongoing – right now we are hoping to assess 50 families twice, spaced six months apart. Then we hope to scale this up to a larger project.

This “pop up” program was designed by faculty, students, staff from the college of Health and Human Sciences at Purdue with support from partners at Purdue and beyond to support families build resilience as they deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. See https://www.purdue.edu/hhs/families-together/ for more information. The goal of “phase 5” – a community-engaged research project – is to adapt an effective intervention, the Families Tackling Tough Times Together (FT) program, to promote and strengthen family resilience in the aftermath of disasters. After a relatively brief initial response to families’ well-being in the immediate aftermath of disaster (e.g., mental health first aid programs), there is little continued support despite families often remaining in uncertain and stressful situations (e.g., temporary housing, without a clear picture of what their “new normal” is). With the help of Purdue Extension, our specific objectives are to (1) identify the unique needs of families in the aftermath of disasters with respect to building family resilience, (2) tailor existing FT materials to the identified needs, (3) create a manual to facilitate CES professionals’ implementation of FT in response to disasters, and (4) distribute the materials, manual, and program.

This is primarily an outreach program that supports the development and health of families. We are actively working with Purdue Extension Educators as we develop and distribute the materials, manual, and program.

Data from earlier phases are also available: Phase 1 developed the program on Facebook, phase 2 refined it, phase 3 rolled it out a second time with more data collection. Phase 4 refined the FT curriculum for Bauer’s Community Partners for Child Safety (CPCS) program, trained staff to implement the program, obtained pilot data and evaluate effects on CPCS outcomes, and disseminated the findings and program updates to Bauer and Extension Educators (many whom helped develop the initial program, have access to program materials, and can implement updates with at-risk families).

Funded by the Next Steps: Bold Ideas in Health and Human Science Research Program, we are building a Purdue Biomarker Network: Infrastructure, Training, and Translation for Stress Biology. We are connecting with researchers across the university to understand the landscape of biomarker research at Purdue, and building new infrastructure related to hair biomarkers of stress.

Chronic stress shapes health across the life course. Cortisol—the hormone most often measured to capture stress—fluctuates in response to acute stressors and follows a diurnal rhythm. More traditional methods of capturing cortisol from blood or saliva are invasive (e.g., venipuncture) and/or burdensome (e.g., many saliva samples—each of which take 3-10m to provide—are required for reliable indication of chronic stress) since cortisol in these biofluids capture only brief physiological snapshots. In contrast, hair-derived biomarkers provide a noninvasive archive of longer-term biological exposure, opening new windows into individual and population-level variation in stress, resilience, and health.

In collaboration with Dr. Amanda Veile (Anthropology), we are working to establish campus capacity for rigorous, scalable hair biomarker research. Specifically, we will (1) develop infrastructure and standard operating procedures to support hair biomarker research, (2) standardize cortisol assay workflows and quality control metrics (3) conduct a focused pilot study comparing hair cortisol measures across varying storage conditions to generate methodological guidance; and (4) implement a student training pipeline to ensure reproducible sample collection and laboratory analyses.

Preventing or delaying adolescent substance use (SU) is a critical goal because the risk of developing lifelong substance use problems is elevated in individuals who began using as adolescents. The proposed R21 will develop a new analytic model that will improve our ability to make causal inferences between potential intervention targets and SU, and freely provide the code and information on power to maximize its utility for scientists who use large-scale longitudinal data. Our results using this model will also advance understanding of the transactional development of different aspects (i.e., parent- and child-driven) of parental monitoring and adolescent SU, which will be of immediate use to individuals designing and testing adolescent SU prevention and interventions by zeroing in on the specific behaviors most likely to be causally linked to SU and the level at which (individual, family) they influence SU outcomes.

For this project, we are analyzing data from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study, a nationally representative data collection effort including 11,875 children enrolled and assessed across 21 sites across the United States (https://abcdstudy.org/).

The primary study aims are to examine how child, family, peer, and contextual processes affect children’s adjustment, and to examine their interplay (mediation, moderation) with genetic influences.

The Early Growth and Development Study is a prospective adoption study of birth parents, adoptive parents, and adopted children recruited in two cohorts (N = 561 triads). Families are followed from birth, with data collection ongoing into adolescence. Adopted children’s siblings are also assessed. This is a multi-site study following a unique sample where children were adopted at birth into non-relative families, and the birth parents, children, and adoptive parents have been followed with repeated assessments since birth. Participants live in most of the states in the U.S.

Data collection through age 15 is complete (with more data collection ongoing). Here at the BDL we are engaged in data management, documentation, and analysis. Data is available for student research projects.

This outreach program was designed by students in the BDL working in close collaboration with faculty in Human Development in Family Studies, Psychological Sciences, Anthropology, and Sociology, and Extension Educators. The program provides data, activities, videos, tips and handouts for parents and service providers of youth about substances teens currently use, the risks of addiction and overdose, adolescent characteristics, and family and peer relationship factors that can put youth at risk of substance use, links between availability and access to substances and use, prevention strategies that work, and real-life tips on how to leverage strategies and address concerns to help prevent substance use.

This is primarily an outreach/dissemination program that supports the development and health of families. A small group of participants participated in qualitative program evaluation.

This pilot study had four goals: to test whether (1) prenatal maternal hair hormone concentrations are associated with subjective measures of prenatal stress, other pregnancy risks, and socio-demographic factors, and whether hormone concentrations and associations with subjective stress measures differ in pregnant compared to non-pregnant adult women (e.g., validation of hair hormone concentrations in pregnant women), (2) physiological and subjective stress is associated with birth and infant outcomes, (3) epigenetic changes in cord blood and placental tissue are associated with stress measures during pregnancy, and (4) epigenetic changes mediate and/or moderate the effects of stress measures on birth and infant outcomes.

The sample included 68 women (34 pregnant, and 34 non-pregnant women) in the Greater Lafayette area. Pregnant women were followed prospectively at 12, 26, and 38 weeks pregnant, cord blood and placental tissue was collected and assayed for methylation profiles at birth, and women and infants were followed-up at 6-months postpartum. The non-pregnant control group had three prospective visits mapping onto the pregnancy visits.

Data collection, management, and documentation is complete. Data is available for student research projects.