Our mission: to understand how social connections influence health.
We focus on two general biological
processes:
- Allostatic processes, which help us cope with environmental challenges, including the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, the sympathetic nervous system, and the immune system,
- Restorative processes, which help us recover from environmental challenges, including the parasympathetic nervous system, sleep, and wound healing.
We study these biological systems in several contexts,
including:
Interpersonal relationships, primarly close personal relationships, which includes dating couples, married couples, and families; acute stressors, such as brief laboratory stress tasks and stressful discussions, and chronic conditions including caregiving and mood and anxiety disorders.
UPDATED 10/2008 - WHAT'S NEW! We recently received a grant from the William T. Grant Foundation to study families with children ages 8 - 11. This study will examine how family dynamics influence children's biological processes and their subsequent susceptibility to upper respiratory infections. We will be conducting this study over the next 2 - 3 years.
Our current research directions:
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How the dynamics of couple interactions affect physiology and health in young dating couples
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The effect of brief laboratory stressors on the skin's ability to heal
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How retirement affects marriage, physiology, and health in older adults
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Risky family characteristics and parent and child health
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How psychosocial factors, including stress and anxiety, impact psoriasis, a chronic inflammatory skin disease
Version: 1.0 (October, 2007)
