Patty Kuo

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Patty Kuo

Associate Professor

Department of Child, Youth and Family Studies University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Contact

Address
CPEH 382
Lincoln, NE 68588-0236
Phone
402-472-2957 On-campus 2-2957
Email
pkuo2@unl.edu
Website

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. Patty Kuo’s research examines how family relationships, caregiving roles, and biological processes shape parent and child well-being. Her recent funded projects include an evaluation of a community-led breastmilk sharing program in partnership with Malone Maternal Wellness; a National Dairy Council–funded study on the microbiome, yogurt consumption, and mental health; and UNL-supported projects on parent-child interaction, attachment security, the gut-brain axis, and parental emotion socialization. Across these projects, Dr. Kuo integrates developmental science, family systems perspectives, and biopsychosocial approaches to better understand parenting, coparenting, fatherhood, and child development. Currently, Dr. Kuo is interested in the role of AI in couple relationship functioning.

Dr. Kuo’s recent publications appear in leading journals including Hormones & Behavior, Family Process, Journal of Family Psychology, Psychology of Men & Masculinities, Family Relations, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Early Childhood Research Quarterly. Her work addresses topics such as masculinity ideology and fathers’ hormonal reactivity, coparenting support and couple relationship behaviors, gendered emotion socialization, and attachment relationships with mothers and fathers. She has also been recognized for excellence in teaching and mentorship, receiving UNL’s Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor Award, College Distinguished Teaching Award, and the College of Education & Human Sciences Outstanding Teaching Award.

Beginning in 2027, Dr. Kuo will be the editor-in-chief of Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice. She is also Associate Editor at Family Process and serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Family Psychology and SRCD Monographs.

Watch Dr. Kuo Faculty Profile Video

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Education

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

Representative Publications

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

Kuo, P.X., Lottes, M., Lyu, J., & Shull, A. (2026). Traditional masculinity ideology enhances testosterone reactivity in fathers of preschoolers. Hormones & Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2026.105979 

Kuo, P.X., Starr, E.J., & Miller, M. (2025). Gendered emotion socialization in families of preschoolers and the role of parents’ masculinity ideology. Psychology of Men & Masculinities. 26(3) 400-409. doi.org/10.1037/men0000485

Kuo, P.X. & Nelson, J.A. (2025). Parents engage in more positive relationship behaviors with their spouses after experiencing greater coparenting support. Family Process. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/famp.70083 

Kuo, P.X., Xu, W., & Yang, Z. (2024). Dyadic associations between marital satisfaction and coparenting quality: Gender differences and the moderating role of caregiving identity. Frontiers in Sociology, Gender, Sex & Sexualities Section, 9. Special Research Topic: Fathers as Coparents in Diverse Contexts and Family Structures. doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2024.1422404

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.