Patty Kuo

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Patty Kuo Assistant Professor

2016 Ph.D., Developmental Psychology University of Michigan
2013 M.S., Psychology University of Michigan
2010 B.A., Psychology, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

Dr. Kuo is the director of the Nebraska Strong Families Lab and a core faculty member in the Child Development / Early Childhood Education and Global Family Health and Wellbeing programs.

Dr. Kuo’s program of research is aimed at understanding the development and maintenance of healthy relationships in families with young children. In particular, her work has focused on fathers and applying a biopsychosocial model to understand how multiple levels of influence (e.g., hormones, gender roles, close relationships) shape the nature of paternal involvement from infancy through the preschool years. Her recent research examines daily interparental relationship dynamics in families with young children. Currently, Dr. Kuo is interested in the development of infant attachment to multiple caregivers and how early attachment relationships to mothers and fathers shape biopsychosocial health. Dr. Kuo’s typical methodologies include home and lab observations, surveys, and salivary hormone assessment.

Dr. Kuo serves on the editorial boards of Family Process, Journal of Family Psychology, and Psychology of Men & Masculinity.

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Learn more about
Nebraska Strong Families Lab

Representative Publications
For a complete list of publications please visit Dr. Kuo's Google Scholar page

Johnson, V.J., Choi, D., Wheeler, L.A., & Kuo, P.X. (2023). Coparenting support in the context of child difficulty: Mother and father differences. Family Process.

Kuo, P.X., Lee, K., Johnson, V.J., & Starr, E.J. (2023). Investigating moderators of daily marital to parent-child spillover: Individual and family systems approaches. Family Relations. 72(4) doi.org/10.1111/fare.12777

Kuo, P.X., Braungart-Rieker, J.M. (2022). Attachment configurations to mothers and fathers during infancy predict compliance, defiance, and effortful control in toddlerhood. Early Childhood Research Quarterly

Kuo, P.X., Johnson, V.J. (2021). Whose parenting stress is more vulnerable to marital dissatisfaction? A within-couple approach examining gender, cognitive reappraisal and parental identity. Family Process.

Kuo, P.X., Saini, E.K., Thomason, E., Volling, B.L. (2019). Is one secure attachment enough? Infant cortisol reactivity and security of infant-mother and infant-father attachments at the end of the first year. Attachment and Human Development. 21(5), 426-444

Kuo, P.X. & Gettler, L.T.
The Neuroendocrinology of Fatherhood. (2018). In P. Mehta, & O. Schultheiss (Eds.) Routledge International Handbook of Social Neuroendocrinology. Routledge: Abingdon, UK.

Kuo, P.X., Braungart-Rieker, J.M., Burke Lefever, J.E., Sarma, M.S., O'Neill, M., & Gettler, L.T. (2018).
Fathers' cortisol and testosterone in the days around infants' births predict later paternal involvement. Hormones and Behavior. 106, 28-34.

Kuo, P.X., Volling, B.L., & Gonzalez, R. (2018).
Gender role beliefs, work-family conflict, and father involvement after the birth of a second child. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 19(2), 243-256.

Kuo, P.X., Volling, B.L., & Gonzalez, R. (2017).
His, hers, or theirs? Coparenting after the birth of a second child. Journal of Family Psychology, 31(6), 710-720.

Kuo, P.X., & Ward, L.M. (2016).
Contributions of television use to beliefs about fathers and gendered family roles among first-time expectant parents. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 17(4), 352-362.

Kuo, P.X., Saini, E.K., Thomason E., Schultheiss, O.C., Gonzalez, R., & Volling, B.L. (2016).
Individual variation in fathers' testosterone reactivity to infant distress predicts parenting behaviors with their 1-year-old infants. Developmental Psychobiology, 58(3), 303-314.