The Family Development Lab is directed by Dr. Becca Brock, Professor of Psychology and faculty member in the Clinical Psychology Training Program. Broadly speaking, our research is aimed at understanding how couple and family relationships ameliorate or perpetuate depression, anxiety, and related aspects of health (e.g., alcohol use, sleep dysfunction, poor diet). Our work is largely focused on couple relationships, investigating how multiple relationship processes (e.g., humanization and respect, support, closeness and intimacy, sexual satisfaction, conflict management strategies) impact partners and their children. In addition to the couple relationship, we investigate multiple other aspects of the family system, such as parenting and coparenting dynamics, that contribute to the overall emotional climate of the family and impact the health and well-being of each family member. We conduct research with the translational goal of informing interventions that minimize family dysfunction, build healthy couple dynamics, and promote adult and child health throughout the lifespan.
There are four primary lines of research we are currently pursuing:
1. The role of couple family relationships in emotion regulation and emotional health: I primary aim of the lab is to understand how couple and family relationships support (or hinder) the development of adaptive emotion regulation skills in children, how intimate partners promote various forms of emotion regulation (e.g., self-compassion and psychological flexibility) in adults, and how parents socialize their children around emotions and promote emotion regulation (e.g., through mindful parenting). We also examine how these family processes impacting emotion regulation ultimately contribute to risk for internalizing disorders (i.e., depression and anxiety) and related aspects of health.
2. Family adaptation to stress, adversity, and trauma: We investigate how couples and families adapt to stress that can otherwise strain regulatory systems and increase risk for emotional disorders such as depression and anxiety disorders. We examine how families navigate various forms of stress and adversity including economic hardship, trauma, discrimination and marginalization stress, and major life transitions (e.g., pregnancy-postpartum transition), and identify sources of risk or resiliency within the family (e.g., high quality partner support, mutually responsive orientation in couples, responsive parenting when children are distressed)? UNL Professor David DiLillo is a routine collaborator, particularly on work investigating intimate partner violence and posttraumatic stress.
3. Balancing closeness with respect for individuality of each family member: Having a close, supportive bond with family members is critical for emotional health; however, it is also important to maintain a sense of independence and find a balance between separateness and togetherness. Another primary line of our research is investigating individuality in family relationships, or the extent to which someone feels respected by other family members for their individuality and personal autonomy, and how this impacts emotional health. We examine the adverse effects of being denied one's identity as an independent, respect-worthy person who is distinguishable from others by family members, a form of dehumanization. In particular, our work focuses on the manifestations and consequences of sexual objectification in intimate relationships (i.e., when partners are reducible to their body parts and sexual functions rather than being appreciated for being a complex and whole human). Much of this work has been pursued in collaboration with UNL Professor Sarah Gervais.
4. Interdisciplinary, transdiagnostic approaches that broadly promote the health of family members across the lifespan: In collaboration with UNL Professor Tim Nelson, we conduct innovative, interdisciplinary research aimed at bridging gaps across family science, developmental psychopathology, and pediatric health. We examine the complex, bidirectional associations between pediatric health behaviors (e.g., diet, sleep, exercise) and psychopathology in children and adolescents and identify underlying transdiagnostic processes that explain this comorbidity (e.g., regulatory deficits; poor executive control). We also identify family processes, along with other environmental factors, that impact these transdiagnostic vulnerabilities (e.g., tense, adversarial family dynamics; deprivation of warm and secure family relationships; absence of supportive responses to child distress).
In pursuit of this research, another primary goal of the lab is the development and implementation of novel and innovative ways of measuring family relationships using multiple methodologies (self-report, interview, behavioral observation). Please visit the Measures page for a list of measurement tools, published psychometric data, and free access to these instruments.
For a complete list of publications visit Google Scholar or ResearchGate.
For brief summaries of recent published articles, please visit the website for the Family Development Project.