Welcome to the Family Studies Lab!
Directed by Dr. Mark Cummings, the Family Studies Lab is part of the Psychology Department at the University of Notre Dame and operates ongoing projects out of the William J. Shaw Center for Children and Families.
The Family Studies Center and Research Laboratory conducts state-of-the-art research on family functioning and relationships. Guided by the Emotional Security Theory (EST, Davies & Cummings, 1994) and informed by a developmental psychopathology perspective, we conduct basic and translational research to learn more about how families function and how best to support them. In particular, we study the dynamics of interparental and parent-child relationships, including processes associated with communication and conflict, marital satisfaction and parenting, as well as pathways toward adaptive and maladaptive development in children and adolescents, including emotional and behavioral well-being, physiological and neuropsychological processes, social and contextual factors, and academic achievement.
There are numerous opportunities at the Family Studies Center for undergraduate, graduate, postdoctoral and staff level training, as well as opportunities for families to get involved in ongoing research. Please contact us for more information!