Yanzhen Kuang

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Entered the Program: 2019

Current program: 

• Ph.D., Human Development and Family Sciences
• Area of Specialization in Couples, Parents, and Families; Culture & Diversity

Previous Education:

• M.S., Education, The University of Edinburgh, UK
• B.A., English Language and Literature (English-Chinese Translation and Interpretation), China Jiliang University
• B.Mgt., Standardization Engineering (Product Quality Engineering), China Jiliang University

Research Interests:

I’m interested in how micro-level parenting processes interact within macro-level cultural, policy, economic, and social contexts to shape child and family outcomes, with particular attention to their dynamic and evolving nature over time, and to the active agency of both parents and children as they interpret and make meaning of these contexts.

• Influence of evolving policy and macro-level contexts on fertility decision-making, parenting practices, and family dynamics.
• Dynamic, multidirectional mechanisms linking parenting cognitions and behaviors with children’s perceptions, behaviors, and developmental outcomes.
• Parenting and parent-child interactions across diverse cultural and social contexts, and how these patterns change over time.
• Family theory and the process of theorizing, with an emphasis on theory development from diverse cultural contexts.

Advising Committee:

• Major Advisor: Dr. Kari Adamsons
• Associate Advisor: Dr. Beth Russell
• Associate Advisor: Dr. Florrie Fei-Yin Ng

Assistantship Experience:

• Research Assistant at the Center for the Study of Culture, Health, & Human Development (CHHD): 2019-2023
• Research Assistant at the Family Resilience and Mindfulness Empowerment (FRAME lab) : Fall 2023
• Instructor of Record: HDFS 2200 Adulthood and Aging: Summer 2023
• Teaching Assistant for:

• • HDFS 2200 Adulthood and Aging: 2020-2022, Fall 2024, Spring 2025
  • HDFS 3102 Early and Middle Childhood Development: Spring 2025
  • HDFS 2004 Research Methods, Fall 2024
  • HDFS 4007W Professional Communication in HDFS: Spring 2024
  • HDFS 3277 Human Sexuality: Spring 2024
  • HDFS 2300 Family Interaction Processes: Spring 2024
  • HDFS 3101 Infant and Toddler Development: Fall 2023
  • HDFS 2100 Human Development-Infancy through Adolescence: Spring 2020, Spring 2023
  • HDFS 1070 Individual and Family Development: Fall 2022
  • HDFS 3310 Parent Child Relations in Cross-Cultural Perspective: Fall 2019