Catherine Walker O'Neal

My passion is promoting family well-being through high-quality research. I am interested in the acute and chronic stressors families experience and how to enhance resilience when faced with stress, particularly for military families. A few principles of my research include: 1. Conducting translational research – I emphasize conducting research that answers the “So what question” (So what do we do because of these findings?). One avenue of my work that illustrates this emphasis is my family program evaluation efforts. These evaluation efforts point to what works well in family programming and promotes well-being while also pointing out what can be improved. 2. Thinking broadly about family well-being – I take a “30,000 foot view” in understanding family well-being. My holistic focus leads me examine numerous factors linked to family well-being. In particular, my research has made contributions to understanding how finances/financial stress and broader contexts, such as military life, impact family well-being. 3. Using advanced quantitative methods – I value the use of rigorous quantitative methods, such as dyadic data to capture multiple family members’ perspectives, latent profile analyses to identify heterogenous sub-groups, and latent growth curve models to understand change over time. However, I also stress the importance of using the methods that are best suited for the research question. Using complicated analyses when a simpler method best addresses the research question is akin to the “tail wagging the dog.”

O’Neal, C. W., Lucier-Greer, M., & Okamoto, R.* (2024). Family financial socialization and financial capabilities of the U.S. Military Service Members: Do demographics matter? Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning. https://doi.org/10.1891/JFCP-2023-0104 O’Neal, C. W., Lavner, J., Lucier-Greer, M., Jenson, T. (2024). Mental health profiles of depressive symptoms and personal well-being among active-duty military families. Family Process, 63(4), 2367-2384. https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.13003 O’Neal, C. W., Lucier-Greer, M., Peterson, C.*, & McKay, B. (2023). Translating discovery science: Delivering online, asynchronous financial education to service members at career and personal life transitions. Family Relations. Advance online copy. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12966 Peterson, C