Conceptualized from an interdisciplinary perspective, my research examines parenting, emotion and emotion communication in the family context, and child health outcomes in international populations and ethnic minority groups in the United States, particularly Asians and Asian Americans. This work contributes to an emerging movement in the field of psychology that recognizes the importance of culture in understanding human development and psychopathology. Existing knowledge in developmental, clinical, and family psychology is predominantly based on research conducted with White middle-class groups in Western countries, which represent less than five percent of the world’s population (Arnett, 2008). It is now well-recognized that psychological theories derived predominantly from this small and selective segment of the World’ s population may not be universally applicable. In collaboration with students and colleagues from Miami University and around the world, my program of research aims to fill this gap by contributing to culturally informed theories of socialization, emotion, and psychopathology, with practical implications for youth in the World’s most populous countries, and some of the fastest growing minority groups in the United States
