Working closely with faculty, our students explore diverse topics such as self-regulation in young children, family caregiving for dependent adults, development in at-risk adolescents, fatherhood, families in poverty, and stress and coping. Faculty involvement in federally funded research, as well as community and policy initiatives, provides opportunities for students to develop and apply new knowledge.

Research topics

HDFS Tenured and Tenure Track Faculty are actively involved in research projects related to their background and interests.

Research presentations and publications

Human Development and Family Studies graduate students typically leave Oregon State with a record of presentations and publications. Students present their research annually at national meetings, including the American Psychological Association, the American Sociological Association, the Gerontological Society of America, the National Council on Family Relations, and the Society for Research in Child Development.

In the last five years, graduate students have co-authored articles published in prestigious, scholarly journals such as the American Journal of Public Health, Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Journal of Family Theory and Review, the Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, and Research in Human Development.

Members of the HDFS faculty work with graduate students as colleagues and co-authors.