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
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
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
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
Dworkin TECH Lab
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
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
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
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
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
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
Knowledge for Parents
Faculty: Chris Mehus
The mission of this research is to ensure all parents and caregivers have the resources they need to accomplish their goals in raising their children.
Topics:
- Prevention science
- Strengthening families
- Mental Health
- Intergenerational relationships
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
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
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
Piehler Lab
Faculty: Tim Piehler
The Piehler Lab conducts research focused on developing and evaluating preventive and clinical interventions in the areas of youth mental health and substance use with the goal to develop better targeted and tailored programming that addresses the unique needs of diverse youth and families.
Topics:
- Prevention Science
- Child and adolescent mental health
- Adolescent substance use
- Family-focused prevention programming
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
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