Current Research
National Caregivers Study
Parents and caregivers in the U.S. face an unprecedented level of stress and responsibility, including caring for young children and aging relatives in the wake of the pandemic. This nationally representative survey will track caregivers’ wellbeing over a 1-year period, with a focus on resilience and protective factors.
Multigenerational Families Study
A growing number of children in the U.S. grow up in households that include parents as well as grandparents and extended family. This study will explore children’s development and caregivers’ experiences in multigenerational households. We will begin reaching out to interested families to participate in August 2025.
Compassion Training RCT
Can contemplating supportive relationships improve the effects of meditation training? In this collaboration with Dr. Paul Condon (Oregon State University) and Dan Lim, we examine how a “relational” approach to meditation can support the development of empathy and compassion in young adults. This work is supported by a PEACE Grant from Mind & Life Institute.
Future Parents Study
How do young adults respond to a crying baby? In this collaboration with Dr. Jennifer Somers (Auburn University), we explore how childhood experiences shape how adults respond to infants’ emotions — even before they have children themselves.
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Stern, J. A. & Cassidy, J. (2025). Mattering in childhood: A developmental attachment perspective.
In A. W. Kruglanski, I. Prilleltensky, & A. Raviv (Eds.), Routledge International Handbook of Human Significance and Mattering (pp. 15-28). Routledge.
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Yucel, N. M., Stern, J. A., Eisen, S., Vaish, A., & Lillard, A. (2025). Heroes, villains, and everything in between: Children’s assessment of morally ambiguous characters. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 256, 106251.
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Stern, J. A., Bailey, N. A., Costello, M. A., Hellwig, A. F., Mitchell, J., & Allen, J. P. (2024). Empathy across three generations: From maternal and peer support in adolescence to adult parenting and child outcomes. Child Development, 95, 1628–1640.
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Stern, J. A., Kelsey, C. M., Yancey, H., & Grossmann, T. (2024). Love on the developing brain: Maternal sensitivity and infants’ neural responses to emotion in the dlPFC. Developmental Science, e13497.
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Stern, J. A., Coard, S. I., Barbarin, O. A., & Cassidy, J. (2024). What attachment researchers can learn from research on Black family resilience. Child Development Perspectives, 18, 10–18.
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Stern, J. A., Bailey, N. B., Costello, M. A., Hazelwood, O. A., & Allen, J. P. (2024). Fathers’ contributions to attachment in adolescence and adulthood: The moderating role of race, gender, income, and residential status. Attachment & Human Development, 26, 325–349.
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Stern, J. A., & Grossmann, T. (2024). The neuroscience of social relationships in early development. In M. A. Bell (Ed.), Child development at the intersection of emotion and cognition (2nd ed., pp. 11–30). American Psychological Association.
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Lin, J., Stern, J. A., Allen, J. P., Boker, S. & Coan, J. (2024). Emotional engagement with close friends in adolescence predicts neural correlates of empathy in adulthood. Social Neuroscience, 19, 246–258.
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Stern, J. A., Kelsey, C. M., Krol, K. M., & Grossmann, T. (2023). Maternal recognition of positive emotion predicts sensitive parenting in infancy. Emotion, 23, 1506–1512.