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Funded by a $1.4 million grant, psychology professor Leslie Hammer is launching the nation's first center dedicated to studying family-supportive behaviors by supervisors that lead to decreased stress and improved safety and health for workers. Hammer and her colleagues believe that the study and the newly-created "Center for Work-Family Stress, Safety, and Health" will significantly enhance U.S. public health and occupational health policy.

In collaboration with a major grocery chain and the United Food & Commercial Workers Union, one of the center's first projects is a study of work-family stressors among low-wage grocery workers, and how these stressors relate to important work outcomes such as productivity, safety, health, and well-being. Housed in the PSU Psychology Department, the center is a joint effort with Michigan State University and Oregon Health & Science University. The three-year grant is funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.