All of our faculty pursue research questions of social significance that cut across and combine two, three, or even four of these areas, a quality that adds strength to their efforts and opens up opportunities for collaborative scholarship and expanded sources of both internal and external funding.

We pride ourselves in the application of both quantitative techniques and qualitative methods of data collection and analysis to investigate issues of both basic and applied significance. Our research, inherently interdisciplinary and often transdisciplinary, is made stronger through frequent collaborations with other scholars on the UIUC campus, from universities across the U.S., and from universities internationally.

We address grand challenges regarding human development, relationships, and families through research scholarship always with a view to relevant contextual issues (e.g., neighborhood/community, poverty, diversity, family structure, laws/policy, culture, immigration).