Faculty

Karen Fingerman

The longest period of the parent/child relationship is the two decades when both parties are adults and in relatively good health. Dr. Fingerman's research examines the effects of intergenerational exchanges and emotional patterns on parents' and offspring's well-being from young adulthood to late old age.

Melissa Franks

Dr. Franks' research focuses on the ways in which a spouse's involvement in the day-to-day management of her or his partner's chronic illness affects the health and well-being of both married partners.  In her research, Dr. Franks also investigates correspondence in health behaviors between married partners, and the influence of this correspondence on their marital interactions and on their individual health and well-being.

Shelley MacDermid

Stressful experiences at work have been linked to a variety of health-related behaviors.  Dr. MacDermid is interested in connections between work stressors and psychological and physical well-being.

Daniel Mroczek

Dr. Mroczek's work looks at how family variables and family contextual variables interact with personality factors to predict physical health, mortality, and other health outcomes.

Cleveland Shields

Health concerns are central to family life across the developmental spectrum. Dr. Shields' research examines how couples and families manage the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.  My students and I study family communication and its effect on adjustment.  We also study how patients and family members communication with healthcare providers affects their mental health and quality of life.

Shawn Whiteman

One of Dr. Whiteman's emerging interests is how siblings influence one another's health risk behaviors in adolescence and early adulthood. Specific attention is paid processes by which older siblings influence their younger brothers' and sisters' alcohol and substance use.

Websites

Center for Familes

Marriage and Family Therapy

Purdue Individual, Couple and Family Therapy Clinic

Military Familes Research Institute

Youth Development and Agricultrual Education

Human Development