Lab Director:
Gregory M. Fosco, Ph.D.
Greg Fosco is the Associate Director of the Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center and Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at The Pennsylvania State University. Greg earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Marquette University, following his M.S in Child Development at the University of California, Davis. He completed an interdisciplinary postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Oregon, working with Thomas Dishion, Elizabeth Stormshak, and Rob Horner. He then served as Lead Intervention Scientist for a state-wide implementation study of the Family Check-Up Model in Oregon public middle schools.
As the director of the Family P.O.W.E.R. Lab, Greg works closely with his graduate students and colleagues to better understand the influence of family experiences for child and adolescent development and well-being. Greg's research examines family process from a basic science and intervention science perspective and is informed by Family Systems Theory. Regarding basic family developmental processes, Greg has examined the impact of interparental conflict, triangulation, whole-family functioning, parenting, and sibling relationships as interdependent processes that impact child and adolescent outcomes, such as externalizing problems (e.g., conduct problems, aggression, antisocial behavior, substance use), internalizing problems (e.g., anxiety, depression), and subjective well-being (optimism, happiness, life satisfaction). His intervention research has focused on evaluating family-based interventions and understanding the change processes that account for these intervention effects on long-term outcomes. His work has examined long-term effects of the Family Check-Up Model for adolescent antisocial behavior, substance use, and depression. His current effort is focused on evaluating the intergenerational effects of the PROSPER intervention delivery system through key mediating pathways.
As the director of the Family P.O.W.E.R. Lab, Greg works closely with his graduate students and colleagues to better understand the influence of family experiences for child and adolescent development and well-being. Greg's research examines family process from a basic science and intervention science perspective and is informed by Family Systems Theory. Regarding basic family developmental processes, Greg has examined the impact of interparental conflict, triangulation, whole-family functioning, parenting, and sibling relationships as interdependent processes that impact child and adolescent outcomes, such as externalizing problems (e.g., conduct problems, aggression, antisocial behavior, substance use), internalizing problems (e.g., anxiety, depression), and subjective well-being (optimism, happiness, life satisfaction). His intervention research has focused on evaluating family-based interventions and understanding the change processes that account for these intervention effects on long-term outcomes. His work has examined long-term effects of the Family Check-Up Model for adolescent antisocial behavior, substance use, and depression. His current effort is focused on evaluating the intergenerational effects of the PROSPER intervention delivery system through key mediating pathways.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Shichen Fang, Ph.D.
Shichen earned her Ph.D. in Psychology at the University of Alberta in 2019. She currently works with Dr. Greg Fosco and Dr. Mark Feinberg as a post-doctoral scholar in the Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center at The Pennsylvania State University. Her research interests center on psychosocial development from adolescence through young adulthood. Specifically, she is interested in understanding how youth well-being and parent-child relations develop during the transition to adulthood, how individual, interpersonal, and contextual factors influence developmental trajectories of youth well-being and parent-child relations, and how these trajectories affect long-term youth and parent outcomes, such as adjustment, mental health, and subjective well-being.
Graduate Student Lab Members:
"To be an artist is first to be a manual laborer." - Irving Stone, The Agony and the Ecstasy
Emily LoBraico, M.S.
Emily received her BA in Psychology and Ethics from Syracuse University. She entered the Human Development and Family Studies doctoral training program at Penn State in 2015. As a member of the Family P.O.W.E.R. Lab, her research interests include (1) maladaptive behavior in adolescents and (2) family based intervention. She is interested in the influence of parent-child relationship on the development of both antisocial and prosocial behavior in adolescents. She is interested in using the family systems framework to adapt and improve upon interventions for children who are at risk for developing problem behaviors, specifically aggression and substance use.
Keiana Mayfield, M.S.W.
Keiana received her BA in Sociology and Women’s Studies from the University of Virginia before completing her MSW in Clinical Social Work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She joined the Human Development and Family Studies doctoral program at Penn State in the fall of 2015. As a member of the Family P.O.W.E.R. Lab, she is interested in studying how family system processes within various subsystems impact overall family functioning. More specifically, she would like to look at mechanisms related to how functional/dysfunctional interparental forces affect child development and well-being through parent-child interactions, and how children impact the health of parental subsystem. Keiana hopes research into these mechanisms will increase the general understanding of family processes, as well as foster innovative family centered interventions
Devin McCauley, M.S.
Devin received his BA in Psychology from the University of Connecticut in 2009. After graduating he spent four years in education as a teaching fellow, literacy teacher and director of operations, and then managed the Peers and Family Lab at Wayne State University. He began Penn State’s Human Development and Family Studies program doctoral training program in 2016, and joined Dr. Fosco’s Family P.O.W.E.R. Lab. His research interests include family as well as school influences in development of adolescent self-efficacy and self-regulation. He is also interested in how interventions can be applied across contexts to promote healthy adolescent self-efficacy and self-regulation.
Carlie Sloan, B.A.
Carlie earned her B.A. in Psychology from the University of Notre Dame. As a doctoral student in the Human Development and Family Studies department, she joined the POWER lab in 2018. Her research interests include family intervention and interparental conflict. Specifically, she is interested in adolescent perceptions of interparental conflict, and how parental relationships and interactions impact adolescent adjustment. Additionally, she is interested in adolescent involvement in the parental dyad, and how this influences perceptions of family functioning.
Lab Alumni
Mengya Xia, Ph.D.
Mengya earned her Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State in 2019. She has accepted a position at the University of Alabama, starting in Fall, 2019 as an Assistant Professor of Psychology. As a member of the Family P.O.W.E.R. Lab, her research interests included (1) triadic family process, and (2) family-centered intervention. She has been examining triadic family process (e.g. triangulating into parental conflict, family cohesion, and triadic communication patterns) and its impact on adolescents outcomes, such as life satisfaction and well-being, resilience and competence development, emotional and behavioral problems, their friendship, and school performance; also, how these experiences influence their family life when these adolescents grow up as adults.
Hio Wa (Grace) Mak, Ph.D.
Grace earned her Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State in 2019. Starting this summer, Grace will be a Postoctoral Scholar at the University of Southern California. As a member of the Family P.O.W.E.R. Lab, her research interests focused on studying the role of family processes in shaping adolescent social-emotional development. Specifically, she is interested in how parent-child affective quality, interparental relationship, and family atmosphere influence adolescent psychological well-being, emotion regulation, and interpersonal relationships.
Grace earned her Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State in 2019. Starting this summer, Grace will be a Postoctoral Scholar at the University of Southern California. As a member of the Family P.O.W.E.R. Lab, her research interests focused on studying the role of family processes in shaping adolescent social-emotional development. Specifically, she is interested in how parent-child affective quality, interparental relationship, and family atmosphere influence adolescent psychological well-being, emotion regulation, and interpersonal relationships.
Bridget B. Weymouth, Ph.D.
Bridget earned her Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2016. She currently works with Dr. Fosco and the P.O.W.E.R. Lab as a post-doctoral fellow in the Prevention and Methodology Training Program at The Pennsylvania State University. The primary focus of her research is examining adolescent interpersonal and psychological functioning within the framework of family science. Her specific research interests include family risk processes for adolescent social anxiety symptoms and social anxiety as a risk mechanism for adolescent substance use. Additionally, Bridget has examined conflict within the family context (i.e., parent-adolescent, interparental) and its implications for adolescent emotional and behavioral well-being.
Bridget earned her Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2016. She currently works with Dr. Fosco and the P.O.W.E.R. Lab as a post-doctoral fellow in the Prevention and Methodology Training Program at The Pennsylvania State University. The primary focus of her research is examining adolescent interpersonal and psychological functioning within the framework of family science. Her specific research interests include family risk processes for adolescent social anxiety symptoms and social anxiety as a risk mechanism for adolescent substance use. Additionally, Bridget has examined conflict within the family context (i.e., parent-adolescent, interparental) and its implications for adolescent emotional and behavioral well-being.
Affiliated Scientists:
Mark J. Van Ryzin, Ph.D.
Mark Van Ryzin was awarded a PhD in Educational Psychology by the University of Minnesota in 2008 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute of Child Development (ICD) at the University of Minnesota for both the Human Developmental Psychobiology Lab (Megan R. Gunnar) and the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (Byron Egeland, W. A. Collins, & L. Alan Sroufe). He is currently a Research Scientist at the Oregon Social Learning Center and has a postdoctoral assignment at the Child and Family Center at the University of Oregon. His primary research interests are social, motivational, and developmental processes in adolescence, particularly how parent-child relationships and peer relations in school impact youth behavior, academic achievement, and adjustment. He has published extensively on family- and school-based intervention and prevention programs, such as the Family Check-Up, Second Step, and Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care models. Finally, Mark also is interested in applying innovative methods in his work, including Complier Average Causal Effect (CACE) modeling and Social Network Analysis using Siena.
Melissa Lippold, Ph.D.
Melissa Lippold received her Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies at The Pennsylvania State University in 2012, where she also completed a postdoctoral fellowship. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Her research investigates the role that parent-youth relationships play in the prevention of adolescent risky behavior and the promotion of physical health. She is also interested in the design and implementation of interventions aimed to improve family relationships and promote healthy outcomes for adolescents and their parents.
For additional information about Melissa and her research, visit her webpage using the link below.
For additional information about Melissa and her research, visit her webpage using the link below.
Student Lab Affiliates:
Amanda M. Ramos, M.A.
Amanda received her BA in Psychology from Humboldt State University before completing her MA in Psychological Research at California State University, Long Beach. She is currently a 3rd year developmental psychology student working with Dr. Jenae Neiderhiser, where she studies gene-environment interplay in the development of child competencies and psychological adjustment. She is also interested in how behavioral genetics research can inform intervention work. She joined the Family P.O.W.E.R Lab in 2015 where her interests include how different family dyads (e.g., parent-child and interparental) and family processes can impact youth adjustment, including self-regulation and connectedness with the family.
Leigha MacNeill, M.S.
Leigha received her BA in Psychology at the University of Rochester. She is currently a 3rd year graduate student in Developmental Psychology at Penn State, working primarily with Dr. Perez-Edgar. She is working in the Family P.O.W.E.R. Lab to explore the intersection between adolescents' anxious trait characteristics and the family context.
Lab Mascot:
Dottie
Dottie is all about family systems theory. She is a cattle dog who strongly believes in the importance of keeping a family together. As such, Dottie's favorite family systems concept is cohesion.