News & Lab Updates

 2024​

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• 8/2024 - Alicia Ader joined the lab as an undergraduate research assistant. Welcome!

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• 8/2024 - Rosie and MiKaila published the first paper from our Couples' Daily Health in Survivorship Study! This paper, published in Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology, showed the daily stress and health advantages of satisfying relationships for both breast cancer survivors and their partners.

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• 7/2024 - MiKaila and Rosie presented at the International Association for Relationship Research (IARR) Main Convention in Boston, MA! Rosie presented as part of a symposium on the Early Years of Marriage project. Her research showed greater relationship positivity, social network size, well-being, and socioeconomic status predicted greater happiness in couples over 16 years. MiKaila’s work showed spouses with a history of childhood maltreatment felt less understood and supported by their partners during marital conflict. 

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• 6/2024 - Rosie published the first paper from our Health and Relationships of Students with Chronic Illness study! This paper was published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships and showed illness-related partner communication predicts better health, COVID, and social-contextual outcomes amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

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• 5/2024 - The lab welcomed Ashley Alvarado and Katie Kemper joined the lab as undergraduate research assistants.

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• 5/2024 - Rosie received a Faculty Research Development Award from Purdue's Center on Aging and the Life Course to fund an upcoming project on couples with cardiovascular disease risks.

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• 5/2024 - Abby, Claire, Alexa, and Anna graduate with their bachelor's degrees! Abby will be starting Bay Path University's Physician Assistant Program, Claire will be starting Indiana University's Mental Health Counseling Master's Program, Alexa will begin the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Dentistry's Doctor of Dental Surgery Program, and Anna will be an Assistant Language Teacher in the Japanese Exchange and Teaching Program. Congratulations!

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• 3/2024 - At the Purdue University Health and Human Sciences Research Symposium, Ella, MiKaila, Megan, and Lily presented their poster on the breakup experiences of students with concealable chronic health conditions. Allison, MiKaila, Claire, and Anna’s poster showed the importance of positive and direct illness disclosure strategies for enhancing relationship closeness among those with concealable health conditions. They all did a brilliant job!

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• 2/2024 - MiKaila and Rosie traveled to San Diego for the Society for Personality and Social Psychology annual conference. Rosie co-organized the Close Relationships Preconference and presented her work showing the importance of illness communication in better health and social relationship outcomes. 

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• 2/2024 - Rosie's paper was published in Social and Personality Psychology Compass. She and her colleagues discuss how dyadic, biobehavioral, and sociocultural research on relationships and health can advance practice and policy in health-promoting ways. They connect these perspectives and offer next steps for dyadic health research, policy, and programming to foster social connection and health and further establish relationships as a public health priority.

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• 1/2024 - Ella Francis and Lily York joined the lab as undergraduate research assistants, and Carly Ferree joined as a graduate research assistant. Welcome, Ella, Lily, and Carly!

 2023

• 12/2023 - Emily graduated with her Bachelor's in Genetics and a minor in Human Development and Family Sciences. Following graduation, Emily will be working as a Genetic Counseling Assistant at the University of Iowa Holden Cancer Center! Congratulations, Emily!

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• 11/2023 - Rosie presented her research at the annual National Council on Family Relations conference. She discussed how couples' open communication helps promote their relationship well-being while managing concealable chronic illness.  

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• 11/2023 - At Purdue's HHS Fall Research Day, MiKaila presented her research showing that childhood abuse and psychological disorder histories influenced emotion regulation during marital conflict. Congratulations on your presentation, MiKaila!

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• 10/2023 - Rosie was invited to give a talk at Purdue's Social Psychology Colloquium. Her talk was called: How partners “get under each other’s skin” to influence health: An integrated social-health perspective

 

• 9/2023 - At the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute conference in Indianapolis, IN, Rosie presented preliminary findings from our breast cancer study showing that couples' communication predicted better health outcomes.

 

• 8/2023 - Rosie's paper was published in the Journal of Family Psychology! The findings show how couples' open communication can help promote their relationship well-being while managing concealable chronic illness.  

 

• 8/2023 - Aslesha Gupta, Claire Lingle, and Allison Swarens joined the lab! Welcome!

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• 8/2023 - Rasheedah started her Master's program in Clinical Psychology at Ball State University! Congrats, Rasheedah!

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• 7/2023 - MiKaila Leonard joined the lab -- she is the lab's first PhD student! Welcome, MiKaila!

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• 05/2023 - Lauren graduated with a degree in Biomedical Health Sciences and a minor in Human Development and Family Science. Lauren’s post-grad plans include taking a gap year as she prepares for dental school! Way to go, Lauren!

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• 05/2023 - Rosie was selected as a Success Mentors Faculty Favorites in Purdue's College of Health and Human Sciences.

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• 05/2023 - Rosie's Psycho-Oncology paper was a Top Cited Article in the Publishing Year. This paper showed that breast cancer survivors’ satisfying marriages predicted better psychological and physical health across treatment. 

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• 04/2023 - Lauren and Emily presented a poster at the Purdue Spring Undergraduate Research Conference. They talked about the social and health challenges of returning to campus amid the COVID-19 pandemic among those with concealable chronic illness. 

 

• 04/2023 - At the Association for Clinical and Translational Science annual conference in Washington, D.C., Rosie presented a poster showing that breast cancer survivors' satisfying relationships were associated with better sleep and lower depressive symptoms.

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• 04/2023 - Rosie was selected for the KL2 scholars exchange program and traveled to the University of Kentucky where she gave a talk called "Bridging relationship science and psychoneuroimmunology: How partners “get under each other’s skin” to influence health."

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• 03/2023 - Lauren and Emily presented a poster on navigating the pandemic with a chronic illness at the Purdue University Health and Human Sciences Research Symposium. 

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• 03/2023 - Rasheedah presented a poster on chronic illness disclosures to instructors, friends, and family during the pandemic at the Purdue University Health and Human Sciences Research Symposium.

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• 03/2023 –Rosie was invited to give a talk at Purdue's Center on Aging and the Life Course! Her talk was called: How relationships “get under the skin” to influence health and longevity. 

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• 03/2023 – Rosie presented her paper on how couples' communication patterns predict wound healing at the American Psychosomatic Society annual conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico!

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• 03/2023 – Rosie presented her paper on how couples' communication patterns predict wound healing at the American Psychosomatic Society annual conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico!

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• 03/2023 – Rosie’s paper was published and selected as an Editor’s Choice Article at Psychoneuroendocrinology. This study showed how couples’ negative communication behaviors predicted greater inflammation and slower wound healing.

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• 02/2023 – Lauren, Emily, and Rosie traveled to Atlanta, GA to present their posters at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology conference.

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• 01/2023 – Rosie’s paper on couples’ emotional and physiological synchrony was accepted at Biological Psychology. The findings showed aging couples’ emotions and physiology tracked together during discussions central to maintaining relationships, and their past behaviors carried over into future interactions and across contexts.

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• 01/2023 – Alexa Spurlock joined the lab! Welcome to the team, Alexa!

 

 2022

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• 12/2022 – Rosie’s paper was accepted at Psychosomatic Medicine. This paper showed that the combination of mutually satisfying relationships and we-talk predicted better relational and cardiovascular health during conflict.

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• 11/2022 - Rosie traveled to the National Council on Family Relations' conference in Minneapolis, MN to present her work on couples' anxiety and negative affect synchrony.

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• 11/2022 - Lauren and Emily each received an Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) Professional Development Grant to support their travels to the SPSP conference! Woohoo!

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• 11/2022 - Our lab continues to grow! Megan Dillon joined our lab! Welcome!

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• 11/2022 - Rosie presented her work on how couples' we-talk and satisfying relationships reduce conflict's cardiovascular health consequences at the Gerontological Society of America's annual conference in Indianapolis, IN.

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• 10/2022 - Lauren and Emily's SPSP poster abstract was accepted! They will be traveling to Atlanta, GA in February to present their work on students with concealable chronic illness returning to campus amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

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• 09/2022 - We welcomed Rasheedah Adisa to the lab! Rasheedah earned her bachelor's in pharmacy and is working toward her Master's of Public Health at Purdue! Check out Our Team section for more info!

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• 09/2022 - Rosie presented her work on breast cancer survivors' marriages and health at the Indiana Clinical and Translational Institute's annual conference in Indianapolis, Indiana.

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• 09/2022 - Rosie received the Outstanding Student/New Professional Paper Award from the National Council on Family Relations’ Families and Health Section for her publication on The Dyadic Biobehavioral Stress Model.

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• 09/2022 - Rosie was named a 2022-2023 KL2 Visiting Scholar. She will visit and give a talk at the University of Kentucky-Lexington.

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• 08/2022 - Our lab is growing! We welcomed undergraduate student Anna Morehead to the lab!

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• 08/2022 - Rosie received an Emerging Scholar Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.

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• 07/2022 - Rosie presented at the International Association for Relationship Research virtual conference.

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• 06/2022 - Rosie was selected to serve on the  Psychosomatic Medicine's Inaugural Early Career Editorial Board Member.

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• 05/2022 - In collaboration with Dr. Melissa Robertson, an assistant professor of psychological sciences at Purdue, Rosie received a Purdue University College of Health and Human Sciences Healthy Lifestyles and Vital Longevity Research Grant to investigate how individuals talk about their illnesses at work and home.

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• 05/2022 - In collaboration with Melissa Franks, Jeff Haddad, and Dan Foti, Rosie received a Purdue University College of Health and Human Sciences Healthy Lifestyles and Vital Longevity Research Grant to host a conference on remote biological and behavioral health assessments.

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• 04/2022 - Rosie received a KL2 Early Career Investigator Award from the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute and the National Institutes of Health; this 2-year awards provides funding and support for a daily study on couples' cardiovascular and immune health in breast cancer survivorship.

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• 04/2022 - Rosie presented her work on a satisfying relationship's health benefits in breast cancer survivors at the American Psychosomatic Society annual conference in Long Beach, California.

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• 03/2022 - Rosie received the Lorene Burkhart Award for Excellence in Research about Families from Purdue University’s Center for Families; this award was for her publication on how breast cancer survivors' satisfying marriages promoted psychological and physical health.

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• 02/2022 - Rosie, Lauren, and Shaina each presented a poster at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology virtual conference! Go Lauren and Shaina!

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• 02/2022 - Rosie's paper was published in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity! This research showed women with and without a breast cancer history who were satisfied with their relationships also had lower gut leakiness and inflammation over time.

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• 01/2022 - Abby Acres and Claire Bilodeau joined the lab as undergraduate research assistants!

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• 01/2022 - Rosie had a new paper accepted on how concealable chronic health conditions affected college students' academics.

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2021

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• 11/2021 - Rosie was invited by Rice University to give a talk on how stress affects couples' relationships and health.

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• 11/2021 - Rosie presented her work on how couples cope with chronic illness at the National Council on Family Relations virtual conference.

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• 10/2021 - Rosie was invited by the North Central Region Aging Network to talk about how stress is contagious in relationships.

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• 10/2021 - Rosie published a new paper as part of a future leaders in psychoneuroimmunology special issue! This paper reviewed the health consequences of stress in couples and discussed a new integrated Dyadic Biobehavioral Stress Model.

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• 09/2021 - Rosie launched the Relationships & Health Lab, and welcomed the first undergraduate research assistants: Lauren Todd, Emily Staub, Courtney Walter, and Shaina Zilber.