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Developmental Seminar Series: Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan

Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan
Mon, October 20, 2025
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Psychology Building Room 217

Join the Developmental Psychology area for a talk by Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan (The Ohio State University)! 

Title: The utility of person-centered approaches to understanding contributions of parenting and coparenting to child and family functioning 

Abstract: Most research on contributions of family relationships to children’s development uses variable-centered approaches. However, these approaches are not especially well-suited for examining the roles of multiple family relationships in children’s development nor do they handle discrepancies between perceptions of family dynamics in a straightforward manner. Thus, person-centered approaches have become increasingly popular among researchers in this area. This talk will review several recent studies that have adopted person-centered methods to understand the contributions of family relationships to child and family functioning using a variety of different samples. Results from these studies emphasize the importance of direct observation of family interactions and gathering reports from multiple family members to best understand the multifaceted family systems that form a primary context for children’s development. 

About Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan:  Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan is a professor in the Developmental area and has been an OSU faculty member since 2003. Dr. Schoppe-Sullivan received her B.A. in Psychology from Northwestern University, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Schoppe-Sullivan is aninternationally recognized expert on coparenting, father-child relationships, and the transition to parenthood. She is a fellow of the National Council on Family Relations, the American Psychological Association, and the Association for Psychological Science. Her research has been funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 


The Developmental Seminar Series area features both internal and external speakers who are experts in a wide range of topics including the development of cognition, perception, learning, emotional processing, and social relationships.  

For more information, contact Developmental Psychology area coordinator Zeynep Saygin.