About Us

As a diverse group of scholars spanning multiple fields, we define “family” broadly. Families can vary in size and structure, and are dynamic, reconfiguring as couples make the transition into parenthood or an empty-nester phase; separate or divorce; and experience illness and bereavement. These transition points, or “hinge moments,” can be windows of both vulnerability and opportunity.

The family profoundly shapes health and well-being from cradle to grave. Increasingly, social connection has been recognized as a public health priority and a buffer against stress and disease, just as social isolation has been found to carry a greater mortality toll than smoking, obesity, and alcoholism. In infancy and childhood, consistent caregiving supports survival and the development of self-regulatory capacities. In adulthood, marriage has been linked with both health and economic benefits, although dysfunctional or abusive relationships can carry significant costs. Among older adults, late-life caregiving demands are often borne by the family unit. Family caregiving can be protective for older adults, but can also place significant emotional and economic strains on partners and adult children.

Families typically cohabitate, pool resources, share ties of kinship, obligation, and commitment, and coordinate communication, emotions, and behaviors. Other social groups also exhibit these characteristics, but rarely with the same intensity or duration. Family members therefore have greater potential to get under each other’s skin, not just figuratively but literally, as families may share genes, microbiota, and interlinked patterns of brain and biological activation. For children, the family environment also has primacy: That is, the family typically constitutes the first social environment into which a child emerges, and offers a template for the larger world.

Families are not necessarily harmonious, but can also be settings for abuse, neglect, and trauma. And the family’s influence can extend beyond the lifespan, across generations. Much recent research has elucidated the mechanisms of intergenerational transmission across multiple domains, from the transmission of incarceration risk and educational attainment, to family aggression and psychopathology, to physical health and neurodevelopment.