Shawn D. Whiteman

Shawn D. Whiteman serves as Professor and Interim Dean in the College of Education and Human Services at Utah State University, where he leads the Department of Human Development and Family Studies. His interdisciplinary work bridges developmental science, family studies, and public health to examine youth outcomes through adolescence and early adulthood.

His educational background includes a PhD in Human Development and Family Studies (Statistics) from The Pennsylvania State University (2004), an MA in Psychology from Wake Forest University (2000), and a BA in Psychology from Shippensburg University (1998).

• PhD, Human Development and Family Studies (Statistics), The Pennsylvania State University, 2004
• MA, Psychology, Wake Forest University, 2000
• BA, Psychology, Shippensburg University, 1998

Whiteman’s research centers on sibling relationships as critical pathways for social influence and comparison within family systems. He investigates how sibling dynamics shape health behaviors, socioemotional adjustment, and developmental trajectories through adolescence into emerging adulthood. His work integrates longitudinal methodologies with family systems theory to unpack bidirectional sibling influences, differential parental treatment, and contextual factors like military deployment or pandemic disruptions. Current projects examine sibling mediation of substance use pathways, sport participation patterns, and crisis-related family adaptations.

Analysis of his recent publications reveals consistent focus on sibling relationship mechanisms across developmental contexts. His work increasingly incorporates crisis events (military deployment, pandemics) as natural experiments to study family resilience. Methodologically, he combines advanced longitudinal modeling with mixed-methods approaches, particularly in military family and sibling sport research.

His scientific recognition includes:

• Faculty Researcher of the Year (2019) from Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services, Utah State University
• Purdue University Scholar (2014)
• Early Career Research Achievement Award (2012) from Purdue University

Whiteman mentors doctoral students in Human Development and Family Studies, with recent graduates including Leslie Page, Iliana Wilkinson, Jenna Dayley, and Liam Fischback. His research program receives substantial external funding from the National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense, supporting investigations into military family resilience and youth health behaviors. Current projects include longitudinal studies of wartime deployment effects on sibling relationships and pandemic-related family stress pathways.

His work operates within university-wide research infrastructure at Utah State, collaborating with military family research centers and leveraging longitudinal datasets on sibling dynamics across diverse family structures.