Professor Miller-Day at Penn State is spending her career examining how interpersonal communication is related to adolescent drug use and female depression and suicide.

Her work in the area of drug prevention focuses on interpersonal relationships and drug use. The book Adolescent Relationships and Drug Use (2000), https://www.erlbaum.com/shop/tek9.asp?pg=products&specific=0-8058-3435-4
examined, described, and explained drug use behavior in the context of adolescent relationships. This is the only book in the field of communication that addresses adolescent drug use behavior from a relational communication perspective and was written by Dr. Miller-Day along with another Penn State faculty member—Dr. Michael Hecht. Her more recent work in this area addresses the critical role of parent-offspring communication in shaping offspring’s health behaviors and outcomes. From examining race and issues of talking about drugs and drug use with adolescents to explaining the form, content, and function of parent-offspring discourse about drugs and drug use, Dr. Miller-Day’s research sheds light on the talk parents have with their children about risky health behaviors. Listed below is a sampling of research articles in this area.

In addition to her work on family and interpersonal communication and drug prevention, Dr. Miller-Day also examines family communication processes that place adolescent children at risk for depression, suicide, and/or academic failure. Her most recent book, Communication among grandmothers, mothers, and adult daughters (2004), https://www.erlbaum.com/shop/tek9.asp?pg=products&specific=0-8058-3979-8

examines communication patterns across three generations of women. This work has contributed to theory in family communication and provides insight to communication patterns that may place women at risk for depression and suicide. Most recently Dr. Miller-Day has worked in Harrisburg with mothers of adolescents who are employed in low wage work to examine maternal work experiences, family communication, and outcomes for their adolescent children (e.g., substance use, sexual behavior, depression, and academic achievement). Her work is intended to assist practitioners providing family services and to inform pubic policy regarding family support systems. Listed below is a sampling of research articles in this area.

Sampling of published research:

Miller-Day, M., & Davis, J. L. (2005). Perceptions of parental communication orientation,
perfectionism, and disordered eating behaviors of sons and daughters. Health Communication, 17(4).

Miller-Day, M. (2004). Communication among grandmothers, mothers, and adult daughters: A qualitative study of women across three generations. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishing.

Miller-Day, M., & Dodd, A. (2004). Toward a descriptive model of parent-offspring communication about
alcohol and other drugs. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 21 (1), 73 – 95.

Miller-Day, M., & Barnett, J. (2004). “I’m not a druggie”: Adolescents’ ethnicity and (erroneous) beliefs about
drug use norms. Health Communication, 16 (1). 207 – 231.

Miller, M., & Day, L. E. (2002). Family communication, maternal and paternal expectations, and college students'
suicidality. Journal of Family Communication, 2 (4), 167- 184.

Miller-Day, M. A. (2002). Parent-adolescent communication about alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use. Journal of
Adolescent Research, 17 (6), 604 - 616.

Miller, M., Alberts, J. K., Hecht, M. L., Trost, M., & Krizek, R. L. (2000). Adolescent relationships and drug use. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishing.