Research & Initiatives

Our research program investigates the impact of chronic stress on health and well-being.
Specifically, we examine risk and resiliency psychosocial processes (early life adversity, emotion regulation, interpersonal relationship quality & sleep quality) impacting the negative psychological and physiological consequences of cumulative or chronic exposure to social and environmental stressors over the life course.

In this context, we are also interested in identifying neurophysiological indicators of sensitivity to the social environment and vulnerability to stress, with a particular emphasis on oxytocin and heart rate variability.

The goals of our research program are to delineate the bio-psycho-social pathways linking chronic stress to poor health and to develop novel interventions aimed at fostering better psychological and physiological adjustment to stress among vulnerable individuals.

See Publications

Participate in the HCP study today!

We are looking for couples in which at least one partner is trying to change their diet and/or physical activity habits.   The main goal of this study is to investigate how different types of couples’ behaviors influence changes in eating and physical activity behaviors over time.  