Q&A: Can drinking tap water reduce how many calories children drink?
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Drinking beverages sweetened with sugar can lead to obesity, cardiovascular disease, cavities, diabetes and other health problems. More than 20 years of public health campaigns significantly reduced the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages by U.S children, but that…
Shared decision making with child’s physician less common for immigrant parents
For people who grew up in the United States, navigating health care can be complicated and intimidating, according to Sawsan Salah, a doctoral candidate in biobehavioral health at Penn State. Those complications may be magnified when a person is unfamiliar with the culture of medical care in the U.…
Child welfare system involvement may improve diagnosis of developmental delays
Children who are mistreated at a young age are more likely to experience a wide range of developmental delays and health problems, according to Christian Connell, Ken Young Family Professor in Healthy Children and professor of human development and family studies at Penn State. To combat these…
Two Penn State faculty named fellows of the National Academy of Kinesiology
Two Penn State Department of Kinesiology faculty members, Lacy Alexander, professor of kinesiology, and Danielle Symons Downs, professor of kinesiology and obstetrics and gynecology, were recently named fellows of the National Academy of Kinesiology (NAK). Alexander and Downs were two of 12…
Counting bites with AI might one day help prevent childhood obesity
The faster a child takes bites during a meal or snack, the greater risk they have for developing obesity, according to researchers in the Penn State Department of Nutritional Sciences. But research into this association is often limited to small studies in laboratory environments, largely because…
Downs inducted as fellow in the National Academy of Kinesiology
Danielle Symons Downs, professor of kinesiology and SSRI associate director, was recently inducted as fellow in the National Academy of Kinesiology (NAK). Symons Downs was among 12 distinguished scholars honored on September 13 during the Academy’s 94th Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh. Downs was…
$3.6M NIH grant to study brain patterns in children with ADHD, behavior problems
Approximately 7 million children in the United States between the ages of three and 17 have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention. Up to 50% of children with ADHD also have severe problems with impulsive…
Not all heart attack patients receive the same type of care, researchers find
While acute myocardial infarction — commonly referred to as a heart attack — remains a leading cause of death in the United States, deaths have decreased significantly over the past two decades in part due to improved treatment methods, according to Charleen Hsuan, associate professor of health…
Young girls may be less responsive to food fullness cues than young boys
Young boys ate less during a meal if they had already consumed a serving of fruit, but girls ate the same amount of the meal whether or not they had eaten fruit, researchers in the Penn State Department of Nutritional Sciences found in a recent study. The researchers said this study, available…
Lisa Gatzke-Kopp named head of human development and family studies
Lisa Gatzke-Kopp, professor of human development and family studies, has been named the head of the Department of Human Development and Family Studies. Gatzke-Kopp, who began her role as head of the department July 1, joined Penn State in 2007 as an assistant professor of human development and…
New website shows how opioid settlement funds are helping Pennsylvanians
Beginning in 2021, a national coalition of attorneys general led by then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro reached settlements to hold prescription opioid manufacturers, distributors and pharmacy companies accountable for their role in contributing to the opioid addiction epidemic in the United States…
SSRI Welcomes New Associate Director
The Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) at Penn State announces the addition of a new associate director, Orfeu M. Buxton. Buxton is a professor of biobehavioral health in the College of Health and Human Development. He is also a cofunded faculty member of SSRI. His research primarily…
New grant supports postsecondary outcomes for youth in foster care
Penn State’s Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) has been awarded a three-year, $650,000 Institutional Challenge Grant from the William T. Grant Foundation (WT Grant Foundation) to strengthen research-practice partnerships that focus on improving health and wellbeing outcomes for youth. …
Downs named as a fellow of the National Academy of Kinesiology
The National Academy of Kinesiology recently announced the new 2025 fellows, including SSRI Associate Director Danielle Symons Downs, professor of kinesiology and obstetrics & gynecology. The Academy has a rich history of annually electing New Fellows into the association who have been…
How safe is the air to breathe? 50 million people in the US don't know
In 2024, more than 50 million people in the United States lived in counties with no air-quality monitoring, according to a new study from researchers in the Penn State College of Health and Human Development. Rural counties — especially counties in the Midwest and South — were less likely to have…
Three selected as Administrative Fellows for 2025-26
The Administrative Fellows Program offers Penn State faculty and staff the opportunity to work with senior University officers to gain knowledge and experiences pertaining to leadership in the academic community. For the 2025-26 academic year, the Administrative Fellows are: Danielle Symons Downs…
Penn State social scientists support federal research funding at COSSA Day
A distinguished delegation of Penn State researchers traveled to Washington, D.C., March 24-25, to participate in the annual Consortium of Social Science Association's (COSSA) Social Science Advocacy Day. The event brought together social and behavioral scientists from across the nation to engage…
Understanding aging requires more than counting birthdays
People’s bodies can be old or young for their chronological age, depending, in part, on the amount and types of stressors they have experienced. Scientists can estimate people’s biological age, but whether they use oral tissue or blood to make the measurement matters, according to a new study led…
Supportive co-parenting may help secure infant attachment development
The World Health Organization recommends that babies should exclusively breastfeed for at least the first six months of their lives and continue alongside the introduction of other foods for at least two years, as breastmilk contains the nutrients and antibodies needed to help infants thrive.…
Feb. 5 lecture to discuss how sleep health affects daily life, long-term health
Orfeu Buxton, Elizabeth Susman Professor of Biobehavioral Health at Penn State, will present the 2025 Pattishall Research Lecture, “Sleep Health Across the Life Span.” The lecture, sponsored by the College of Health and Human Development, will be presented on Wednesday, Feb. 5, at 3 p.m. in the…
Consistent bedtime linked with better child emotion and behavior regulation
Sleep can affect a child’s attitude and behavior, as many parents can attest, but a consistent bedtime may be more influential than sleep quality or duration, according to a new publication authored by researchers in the Penn State College of Health and Human Development and Penn State College of…
Gatzke-Kopp named president-elect of Society for Psychophysiological Research
Lisa Gatzke-Kopp, professor of human development and family studies and Social Science Research Institute cofunded faculty member, recently was named president-elect of the Society for Psychophysiological Research. The presidential role spans three years, over which she will serve as president-…
$3.1M grant to fund study on early signs and diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease
A four-year, $3,148,346 National Institute of Aging (NIA)-funded project aims to use computational models and psychology to study the early signs of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias (ADRD) that may appear approximately 20 years before an official diagnosis, according to Zita Oravecz,…
Recovery community centers linked to support factors for substance use recovery
More than 46 million people in the U.S. suffered from substance use disorders and more than 100,000 died by overdose in 2001, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. To address this crisis, recovery community centers (RCCs) have emerged in cities across the U.S.…
Connell appointed The Ken Young Family Professor for Healthy Children
Christian M. Connell, professor of human development and family studies, was recently named The Ken Young Family Professor for Healthy Children in the College of Health and Human Development. The professorship is part of a $1 million gift to support a faculty member focused on enhancing the health…