Na Zhang

Assistant Professor

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I will consider accepting graduate students for matriculation in Fall 2025.

I conduct research and mentor students in three specialization areas: Child and Adolescent Development; Couples, Parents, and Families; Health, Wellbeing, and Prevention. My lab’s research program focuses on the application of mindfulness interventions in diverse family contexts including divorced families, bereaved families, and multigenerational families. Some key topics in my current research projects include: digital intervention/mHealth, parenting, grandparenting, pregnancy and postpartum, environmental health and environmental socialization, emotion regulation, executive functions, multi-level prevention and system changes. We use a variety of methods in our research such as advanced quantitative research methods, qualitative interviews, and user-centered design methods for developing digital interventions.

Active Research Funding

Principal Investigator, K01MH122502

“A digital mindfulness-informed parenting intervention for high-risk divorced families”

National Institutes of Health/NIH, National Institute of Mental Health/NIMH

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

Editorial Boards:

Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology

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. **, Bellizzi, K. M., Zhang, N., & Park, C. L. (in press). Effects of trait resilience and emotion regulation on perceived positive and negative life changes in cancer survivors: A longitudinal study. Annals of Behavioral Medicine.
3. 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
4. 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
5. 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
6. Liu, G., Santana-Gonzalez, C., Zeffiro, T., Zhang, N., Enstrom, M., & Quevedo, K. (2023). Self-compassion neurobiology during self-appraisals in depressed and healthy adolescents. Journal of Affective Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2023.07.012
7. 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
8. 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
9. Ahrweiler, N.^***, Santana-Gonzales, C., Zhang, N., Quandt, G., Ashtiani, N., Liu, G., Engstrom, M., Schultz, E., Liengswangwong, R., Teoh, J. Y., Kozachok, K., Quevedo, K. (2022). Neural Activity Associated with Symptoms Change in Depressed Adolescents Following Self-Processing Neurofeedback. Brain Science, 12(9), 1128. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12091128
10. 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
11. Causadias, J. M., Alcalá, L., Morris, K. S., Yaylaci, F. T., & Zhang, N. (2022). Future directions on BIPOC youth mental health: The importance of cultural rituals in the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 51(4), 577-592. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2022.2084744
12. Zhang, N., Russell, B., Park, C. & Fendrich, M. (2022). Effects of mindful emotion regulation on parents’ loneliness and social support: A longitudinal study during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in the United States. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 39(11), 3415-3435. https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075221098419
13. 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
14. 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
15. 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
16. Sandler, I., Tein, J., Zhang, N., Wolchik, S., & Thieleman, K. (2021). Grief as a predictor of long-term suicidality above and beyond PTSD symptoms and other risk factors in parentally bereaved children and adolescents. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 34(6), 1159-1170. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.22759
17. Zhang, J., Zhang, N., Piehler, T. F., Gewirtz, A. H. (2021). Emotion regulation difficulties in military fathers magnify their benefit from a parenting program. Prevention Science, 24, 237-248. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-021-01287-8
18. Zhang, N., Hoch, J., Gewirtz, A. H., Barnes, A. & Snyder, J. (2021). Vagal suppression buffers against the negative effects of psychological inflexibility on parenting in combat deployed fathers. Parenting Science and Practice, 21, 55-78. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295192.2020.1804250