Dr. Nuttall studies family processes and development within a variety of family contexts and during a variety of developmental stages and transitions.

Family Stress Contexts

1. Parents and Typically-Developing Siblings of Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Dr. Nuttall is interested in the ways in which having a child/sibling with Autism Spectrum Disorder impacts families. She is particularly interested in the experiences of typically-developing siblings as less is known about their experiences in comparison to the experiences of parents. She is particularly interested in these experiences during this adolescence and emerging adulthood.
2. Family Conflict, Intimate Partner Violence, and Childhood Maltreatment. Dr. Nuttall is interested in the ways in which conflict impacts parenting and child development. She studies the entire spectrum of conflict, from normative conflict experienced by all families to more extreme forms of family and relational violence, including child maltreatment and intimate partner violence. Dr. Nuttall is a primary investigator on a NICHD-funded longitudinal study to understand parenting and early child development in the context of intimate partner violence and other stressors; she conducts this work with colleagues Dr. Alytia Levendosky and Dr. Joesph Lonstein in the Department of Psychology and colleagues Dr. Maria Muzik and Dr. Cecilia Martinez-Torteya in the Department of Psychiatry at University of Michigan.

Developmental Periods and Transitions

1. Transition to Parenthood and the Intergenerational Transmission of Parenting. Dr. Nuttall is interested in the ways in which individuals transition to the experience of parenting and how early parenting predicts child development and subsequent parenting. She is also interested in the ways parenting is influenced by childhood experiences. She conducts work in this area using a variety of longitudinal datasets following pregnant mothers (including adolescent and other vulnerable populations of mothers) through the transition to parenthood and assessing child developmental outcomes. For example, Dr. Nuttall currently collaborates with colleagues at MSU and University of Michigan to examine these processes in the context of intimate partner violence.
2. Early-Middle Childhood. Dr. Nuttall is interested in the impact of parents (including parental mental health and parenting) on early child development as well as the impact of children on parents. She focuses on parent-child interactions during this period, particularly parent-child emotional expression and communication processes about emotions. Dr. Nuttall is currently funded by NICHD to study the influence of prenatal stress on child developmental outcomes into middle childhood.
3. Transition to Adulthood. Dr. Nuttall is interested in the ways in which parenting and childhood experiences impact individuals as they transition from adolescence to emerging adulthood. She is interested in family (parent-child and sibling) relationships and romantic relationships during this developmental period. For example, Dr. Nuttall’s has two studies seeking to understand the experiences of neurotypical siblings of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder during this developmental period.