Determinants and Promotion of Well-Being | Penn State College of Health and Human Development

Studying the determinants of well-being is pronounced in the research program of several HDFS faculty. We examine the effects of close relationships on well-being in midlife and older adulthood, as well as the influence of family processes that contribute to adolescents’ happiness and life satisfaction. Other projects focus on the promotion of well-being through evaluating school-based prevention programs and by exploring how teaching practices and intervention efforts modify peer experiences in ways that support better individual adjustment. Faculty in this area is also interested in how stress can influence cognitive functioning and how to develop efficient interventions to maintain healthy aging. Methodological issues related to studying and promoting well-being are also emphasized, including optimizing and evaluating behavioral interventions and modeling of changes in well-being over time in a dynamical systems framework.

HDFS faculty who study Determinants and Promotion of Well-Being include:

Sy-Miin Chow