Na Zhang

Assistant Professor

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I will consider accepting graduate students for matriculation in Fall 2025. I mentor students in three specialization areas: Child and Adolescent Development; Couples, Parents, and Families; Health, Wellbeing, and Prevention.

My research investigates the application of mindfulness training for parents, with the goal of maximizing the reach and effectiveness of family interventions to prevent mental health problems and promote resilience. I am interested in studying developmental processes that explain adaptation or maladaptation in children, with an emphasis on understanding the predictors and outcomes of high-quality parenting. In my research lab, we use a variety of methods including advanced quantitative research methods, qualitative interviews, and research synthesis. We also adopt Human-Centered Design (HCD) methods for developing engaging and sustainable family-based interventions.

I am also a mindfulness practitioner and a qualified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction teacher.

Selected Awards

2025                Junior Faculty Research Excellence Award, Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy, UConn. Link.
2023                Mentorship Excellence Award, Office of Undergraduate Research, UConn. Link.
2021                Barbara Thompson Excellence in Research on Military and Veteran Families Award, Military Family Research Institute, Purdue University. Link.

Research Funding

Principal Investigator, “A digital mindfulness-informed parenting intervention for high-risk divorced families”
Funded by National Institutes of Health/NIH, National Institute of Mental Health/NIMH (2022-27)

Educational Background:

NIDA T32 Post-Doctoral Fellow, Prevention Science, REACH Institute, Arizona State University, USA
Ph.D. in Family Social Science (Prevention Science Minor), University of Minnesota, USA
M.Ed. in Psychology (Clinical Science Track), Tsinghua University, China
B.S. in Psychology, Capital Normal University, China

Selected Mindfulness-Based Instructor Training Experience

2025              Five-day program, “Love’s Journey: Polishing the Mirror of the Heart”. With Saki Santorelli.
2024              Invitational eight-day program, “Deepening inquiry, practice, and community in the greater mindfulness universe: An experimental international retreat within the non-dual embrace of noble silence and dialogue”. With Jon Kabat-Zinn.
2017              Nine-day program, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Fundamentals. With Bob Stahl and Carolyn West.
2013              Seven-day program, “Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction in Mind-Body Medicine”. With Jon Kabat-Zinn and Saki Santorelli.

Editorial Service:

Associate Editor, Mindfulness
Editorial board member, Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology
Consulting editor, Journal of Family Psychology

Selected publications:

1. Zhang, N., Smith, I. C., & Ginsburg, G. (2024). Do self-processes and parenting mediate the effects of anxious parents’ psychopathology on youth depression and suicidality? Child Psychiatry & Human Development. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-023-01657-z
2. Fritzson, E.**, Zhang, N., Wolchik, S. A., Sandler, I. N., Tein, J. Y., &Bellizzi, K. M. (2024). Developmental pathways of the Family Bereavement Program to promote growth 15 years after parental death. Journal of Family Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0001189
3. Duncan, L. G., Zhang, N., Santana, T., Cook, J. G., Gastro-Smyth, L., Hutchison, M., Mallareddy, D., Jurkiewicz, L., Huynh, T., & Bardacke, N. (2023). Enhancing prenatal group medical visits with mindfulness skills: A pragmatic trial with Latina and BIPOC pregnant women experiencing multiple forms of structural inequity. Mindfulness. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-023-02227-z
4. Zhang, N., Zhang, J., Gewirtz, A., & Deater-Deckard, K. (2023). Linking observing and nonreactivity mindfulness to parenting: Moderated direct and indirect effect via inhibitory control. Journal of Family Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0001152
5. Zhang, N., Sandler, I., Thieleman, K., O’Hara, K., & Wolchik, S. (2023). Self-compassion for caregivers of children in bereaved families: A theoretical model and intervention example. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 26, 430-444. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-023-00431-w
6. Sandler, I., Tein, J., Zhang, N., & Wolchik, S. (2023). Developmental pathways of the Family Bereavement Program to prevent major depression 15 years later. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2023.02.012
7. Sandler, I., Wolchik, S., Sandler, J., Tein, J., Gaffney, D., Zhang, N., & Porter, M. (2022). Feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of adding an evidence-based parent/caregiver program for bereaved families to usual community-based services. OMEGA – Journal of Death and Dying. https://doi.org/10.1177/00302228221132910
8. Alvis, L., Zhang, N., Sandler, I., & Kaplow, J. (2022). Developmental manifestations of grief in children and adolescents: caregivers as key grief facilitators. Journal of Child and Adolescent Trauma, 16, 447-457. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-021-00435-0
9. Zhang, N., Sandler, I., Tein, J., Wolchik, S. & Donohue, E. (2022). Caregivers’ self-compassion and bereaved children’s adjustment: Testing caregivers’ mental health and parenting as mediators. Mindfulness, 13, 462-473. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-021-01807-1
10. Zhang, N., Sandler, I., Tein, J., & Wolchik, S. (2021). Reducing suicide risk in parentally bereaved youth through promoting effective parenting: Testing a developmental cascade model. Development and Psychopathology, 35(1), 433-446. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579421001474

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