The Linked Lives Lab seeks to better understand how our interpersonal connections influence adult de
“Linked Lives” are the social ties that connect us to one another. Human development is a process of growth and change across the entire lifespan, from infancy to old age. Our research focuses on the role of social support in that developmental process throughout adulthood. Social support from family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and communities is an integral factor influencing human developme
11/07/2024
Fall is conference season in the Linked Lives Lab! First up, Bryce presented research at the American Public Health Association annual meeting in Minneapolis. The poster titled '"Stop your bulls**t": A qualitative analysis of antagonistic older adults in a vaccine behaviors survey' was authored by Bryce Van Vleet and Heather Fuller from HDFS, along with Andrea Huseth-Zosel from Public Health, and Amanda Giddens from Counseling. Well done Bryce and team!
08/30/2024
Yay, Bryce!
08/30/2024
We celebrated the graduation of Linked Lives Lab now-alumna Emily this summer! Congrats, Dr. Kinkade!
01/19/2024
Way to go, Emily! 🎉🎉🎉
Congratulations to Emily Kinkade, doctoral candidate in Developmental Science and Gerontology, for receiving the College of Graduate and Interdisciplinary Studies Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship for Spring Semester! This award will allow Emily to focus exclusively on completing her dissertation. Well done, Emily!
11/17/2023
Our lab members - including Bryce, Emily, Melisa, and Dr. Fuller - were involved in all of these projects on better understanding vaccination among older adults.
11/15/2023
Our Linked Lives Lab team just returned from a successful few days of sharing our research, learning, and networking at the annual Scientific Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America in Tampa!
A few highlights of the trip were:
- Emily rocked her first podium presentation on “Transitioning to Widowhood: The Role of Social Integration in Moderating Well-being Over Time”
- A couple of fun group dinners with NDSU colleagues
- Bryce had a lot of interest in his unique I-Poetry method in his presentation ““There’s a lot of factors”: Utilizing I-Poetry to Understand Vaccine-Hesitant Decision Making”
- Reconnecting with lab Alumna Dr. Jonix Owino, who presented on “The Match/Mismatch in Perceptions of Successful Aging Among Older Burundian Refugees in the US”
- Our Lab Director, Dr. Heather Fuller, had 4 additional presentations, most exciting of which was our final presentation off of the ‘Social Distancing and Aging Study’ entitled “Patterns and Themes of Older Adults’ Coping across Two Years of the COVID-19 Pandemic”
- Seeing manatees and dolphins in the wild!
05/24/2023
What an exciting week for our lab! Our Evaluation Coordinator Bryce also successfully defended his thesis!
Congratulations to Developmental Science Doctoral student Bryce Van Vleet who successfully defended his thesis "Temporal Perspectives on Socialization of Coping in Rural Mothers of Adolescent Girls"! Way to go, Bryce!
05/19/2023
Kudos to our lab manager Emily on rocking her proposal and successfully advancing to doctoral candidacy!
Congratulations to DS doctoral student Emily Kinkade who successfully proposed her dissertation project and advanced to doctoral candidacy! Way to go Emily!
05/17/2023
Heather Fuller was recently awarded NDSU's Mentoring Excellence Award. A group of her students, including Emily and Bryce shown here, and Dr. Hektner nominated her for this recognition.
Dr. Fuller remarked, "Mentoring is one of, if not the most rewarding aspect of my job. It is truly a privilege to have the opportunity to mentor so many amazing students and help them achieve their goals and reach their full potential. I feel extremely lucky to learn from the unique experiences and talents of each of them, and I am honored and humbled to receive this award."
12/06/2022
If you are a mother of a teenager aged 11-19 currently enrolled in middle or high school and you currently live in a rural community, you are invited to participate in important research related to coping and parenting being conducted by researchers Dr. Heather Fuller and graduate student Bryce Van Vleet at North Dakota State University. Your participation will help us better understand coping in rural families and communities.
Participants will be invited to answer open ended questions and complete closed-ended scales. You will be asked questions related to your coping strategies, parenting style, and your childhood. The online questions will take about 30-60 minutes to complete at a time convenient to you and online from the comfort of your own home.
If you are interested in participating, please click on the following link: bit.ly/mom_NDSU
11/09/2022
In our final session at the 2022 GSA conference, we had two poster presentations co-authored by the team of Emily, Bryce, Dr. Fuller, and Dr. Huseth.
Bryce led the study: 'Lacking family ties during a global pandemic: Older adults's conceptualizations of social support'.
Emily led the study: 'Changes in Older Adults' Loneliness Over Two years of COVID-19 - A Mixed-Methods Analysis'.
Congratulations to this collaborative team on these excellent presentations!!