College of Education and Human Development

Family Social Science

Research Projects and Labs

About our research

Family social science faculty are renowned researchers who use the knowledge and methods of the social sciences to conduct research and outreach in partnership with families, communities, and organizations to address psychological, cultural, social, and economic issues affecting families locally, nationally, and globally.

Faculty mentor undergraduate and graduate students and collaborate with them to examine families and their interactions with – and within – diverse environments and systems. 

Research areas

  • Child adjustment in family context
  • Families and culture
  • Families and financial decisions
  • Family formation and intergenerational studies
  • Families, loss, and trauma
  • Intimate family relationships

    APLUS Pathways to Life Success

    Faculty: Joyce Serido 

    APLUS is the first ever longitudinal study to examine the connection between finances and well-being, how young people develop financial behaviors and how those behaviors relate to financial capability and well-being as adults.

    Topics:

    • Financial parenting
    • Coping with financial stress
    • Family finances and young adults’ behaviors
    • Stability and change in financial capability
    • Financial behavior and romantic relationships
    • Achievement gap

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    Center for Personalized Prevention Research

    Faculty: Gerald August

    CPPR advances children’s mental health with personalized approaches to healthcare that inform the development, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of preventive interventions for children and youth at risk for mental health disorders.

    Topics:

    • Prevention science
    • Child and adolescent mental health
    • Conduct disorder prevention
    • Drug abuse prevention
    • Digital mental health including mobile technologies

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    Children, Youth, and Families at Risk Professional Development and Technical Assistance Center

    Faculty: Lynne Borden

    Through developing and deploying technical assistance, resources, trainings, and tools, the Center builds the capacity of its grantees by increasing the overall positive impact of CYFAR's Initiatives.

    Topics:

    • Families as a context for development
    • Adolescents and youth
    • Community engagement
    • Community-based programs that promote positive development
    • Developmental psychology
    • Social development
    • Public policy
    • Military families
       

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    Citizen Professional Center

    Faculty: Bill Doherty

    Resources to prepare professionals, students, and community members for effective demographic engagement with communities.

    Topics:

    • Democratic community-building with families
    • Citizen health care
    • Marriage
    • Fatherhood
    • Families dealing with chronic illnesses
    • Psychological stress
    • Ethics

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    Exploring College Students' Journey with their Finances

    Faculty: Virginia Zuiker

    This research agenda examines financial issues experienced by college students and compare the experiences of first-generation college students and non-first-generation college students.

    Topics:

    • College Students and their Money Management Practices
    • Economic Adjustment Strategies
    • Financial Anxiety
    • Financial Capability
    • Financial Independence
    • Financial Knowledge/Literacy
    • Financial Pathways
    • Financial Socialization
    • First-generation college students and non-first-generation college students
    • Housing Insecurity
    • Technology and Money
       

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      East Metro American Indian Diabetes Initiative

      Faculty: Tai Mendenhall

      This community-based participatory research project is designed to better understand and reduce health disparities.

      Topics:

      • Community-based participatory research
      • Citizen health care
      • Families and chronic illness
      • Trauma and fieldwork
      • Medical family therapy

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      Economic Well-Being of Diverse Families Residing in the United States

      Faculty: Virginia Zuiker

      This research agenda is designed to understand the economic well-being of diverse families residing in the U.S. and in Minnesota by examining economic and management issues that affect individuals and families.

      Topics:

      • Economic Adjustment Strategies
      • Economic Well-being of the Family
      • Families and Culture
      • Families of color/Latinx families
      • Financial Anxiety
      • Financial Capability
      • Financial Knowledge/Literacy
      • Poverty
      • Rural and Urban Families
      • Social and Human Capital

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      Family Businesses and the Self-Employed

      Faculty: Virginia Zuiker

      This research project examines the self-employed versus wage and salary earners, family businesses owners, and financial management issues that affect the economic well-being of individuals and families.

      Topics:

      • Cash Flow Problems
      • Communication Technologies
      • Economic Adjustment Strategies
      • Perceptions of Wealth and Well-being
      • Rural and Urban Family Business Issues

      Family Education Diabetes Series

      Faculty: Tai Mendenhall

      This study is an example of the effort to work together to transcend conventional top-down, service-delivery approaches to care. An ongoing project of the Citizen Professional Center.

      Topics:

      • Community-based participatory research
      • Citizen health care
      • Families and chronic illness
      • Trauma and fieldwork
      • Medical family therapy

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      Immigrant and Refugee Families

      Faculty: Catherine Solheim

      The goal of the Immigrant and Refugee Families lab is to advance interdisciplinary, social justice scholarship with immigrant and refugee families.

      Topics:

      • Families and culture
      • Refugee family resettlement and adjustment
      • Families & conflict
      • Family economics
      • Transnational family systems
      • International education
      • Globalization
      • Ambiguous Loss
      • Human ecology
      • Social Justice theories
      • Qualitative research methods

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        Learning from Experts: Having a Dialogue with Financial Counselors/Coaches of Color about their Best Practices

        Faculty: Virginia Zuiker

        This research agenda is designed to understand the needs of professionals of color who work in financial wellness programs with clients of color to achieve goals of financial stability and sustainable homeownership.

        Topics:

        • Family Financial Counseling
        • Financial Delivery Methods
        • Financial Professionals of Color
        • First-time Homebuyers

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        Military REACH

        Faculty: Lynne Borden

        A collaboration with the United States Department of Defense's Office of Family Policy using a multi-disciplinary approach that integrates both research and outreach to support those who work with and on behalf of military families.

        Topics:

        • Families as a context for development
        • Community-based programs that promote positive development
        • Public policy
        • Military families
           

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        Minnesota Couples on the Brink Project

        Faculty: Bill Doherty and Steven Harris

        Develops, disseminates, and evaluates best practices to help couples at high risk for divorce and who are uncertain decide whether to divorce or to try to rebuild their marriage.

        Topics:

        Marriage and Couple Therapy
        Relational decision-making
        Prevention of unnecessary divorce
        Couples and intimacy
        Family therapy ethics and professional development

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        Parenting 2.0

        Faculty: Jodi Dworkin

        This project is interested in gaining a better understanding of the ways in which—and the reasons why—parents use technology. Ongoing studies of technology use and parent story-gathering are featured.

        Topics:

        • Technology and family development
        • Promoting positive family development
        • Strengthening families
        • Family education
        • Parenting adolescents and college students

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        Social Networks and Child Adjustment

        Faculty: Zha Blong Xiong

        The purpose of this study is to examine the impact social and family networks have on children's adjustment, especially children's educational achievement.

        Topics:

        • Cultural competence
        • Immigration
        • Parenting
        • Child adjustment in the family context in immigrant and refugee families
        • Community engagement and education
        • Program development and evaluation
        • Southeast Asian-American families
           

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        The Weiler Lab

        Faculty: Lindsey Weiler

        We develop, test, and optimize preventive interventions for youth and families. The goal is to identify effective strategies for fostering healthy development.

        Topics:

        • Children/adolescent mental health
        • Adverse Childhood Experiences
        • Prevention Science
        • Development and testing of preventive interventions
        • Community psychology
        • Community services & supports
        • Family systems
        • Family violence
        • Psychological stress

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