Lifespan Development, Family, & Culture

Research in our institute is focused on development across the entire life span (childhood, youth, adulthood and old age), as well as culture and the family as important developmental contexts. We want to understand how people can develop positively despite changing and challenging circumstances in the different phases of life. Our research philosophy is guided by the idea that individuals are active agents in their own development, shaping the course of their lives in interaction with their interindividual relationships, within the cultural context. We pursue our research questions from a broad methodological perspective, e.g., following people in their daily lives and over long time spans, as well as using in-depth methods, such as qualitative interviews.

Considering development throughout the entire life within family and cultural contexts helps to understand the psychological factors important for a society undergoing demographic changes, and the inclusion of culture as a central variable is especially important in a culturally diverse country such as Luxembourg. Thus, an important mission of our institute is to disseminate our findings to policymakers and affected societal institutions.

Key research areas/Research Groups

• Psychological Aging Research
• Intergenerational Family Relations
• Cultural Psychology
• Psychology of Migration and Inclusive Societies
• Identity Construal in Culturally Diverse Contexts
• Developmental Psychology
• Educational Psychology