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Su Yeong Kim
Professor
Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, Center for Women's and Gender StudiesDr. Kim is accepting new Ph.D. students for Fall 2022. Application deadline is December 1, 2021.su.yeong.kim@utexas.edu
Phone: 512-471-5524
Office Location
SEA 2.322G
Postal Address
108 E DEAN KEETON ST
AUSTIN, TX 78712-
Postdoctoral Fellow, Prevention Research Center, Arizona State University
Ph.D., Human Development, University of California, Davis
B.A., Psychology (Departmental Honors), University of Southern California
B.S., Business Administration (Information Systems), University of Southern CaliforniaResearch Interests
Su Yeong Kim, Ph.D., is Professor of Human Development and Family Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin. She studies the intersection of family and cultural contexts in understanding the development of children of immigrants in the United States, with a focus on children of Chinese and Mexico-origin. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Kim examines how culturally relevant developmental processes (acculturation), cognitive processes (executive functioning), and physiological (cortisol, inflammation) and social stressors (discrimination) directly, indirectly, or interactively influence parent-child relationships (parenting, tiger parenting, father-child relationships) and adjustment transitions and outcomes (academic achievement, depressive symptoms) in minority adolescents and young adults. She also develops and tests the measurement invariance of culturally relevant measures for use with ethnic minorities. For example, she developed measures of language brokering to capture the subjective experiences of adolescents translating for monolingual, immigrant parents with limited English skills.
Her research has revealed that the commonly held perception of Asian American parents as “tiger parents” being responsible for producing child prodigies is inaccurate. In fact, her eight year longitudinal study of Chinese American families demonstrate supportive parenting as the most common type of parenting leading to the most optimal outcomes in terms of both academic and socio-emotional adjustment in Chinese American adolescents. Her studies on language brokering among Mexican American adolescents reveals that children experience both a sense of burden and efficacy in translating for their non-English fluent, Spanish-speaking parents, and that their perceptions of the language brokering experience relate directly to their socio-emotional adjustment
Diversity and Inclusion Emphasis
My commitment to fostering diversity and inclusion is evident not only in my scholarly endeavors, but also in my teaching, community service, and advising. My undergraduate students and I developed an after-school program for middle school students to become better and more efficient translators for their English-limited parents. We have a team of research assistants who develop and deliver a weekly curriculum at the middle school. As the Editor of the journal Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, my main priority is to publish rigorous, cutting-edge science to advance the psychological science of ethnic minorities in a global context. My scholarly papers focus on ethnic minority and immigrant groups, and I pay special attention to the unique stressors facing these groups, as well as mechanisms to identify the modifiable mediators and moderators that may be leveraged to develop intervention programs to improve the health and well-being of minority populations. My undergraduate course and graduate seminar focus on the ecology of human development and the diverse experiences of ethnic minority and immigrant populations. As my research focus is on immigrant families, students who are bilingual and of ethnic minority backgrounds are naturally drawn to work with me. Other students appreciate the opportunity to work with a diverse team and to learn about the lived experiences of ethnic minorities and immigrants in the United States. Often, students tell me that I gave them an opportunity for their first research experience, and that they learned about themselves, their heritage culture, and language by working in my research lab. Students say they are proud to work on a research project that can positively impact the immigrant communities they represent.
Accepting New Ph.D. Students
Dr. Kim is accepting new Ph.D. students for Fall 2022. Application deadline is December 1, 2021 for the Human Development and Family Sciences Ph.D. program at the University of Texas at Austin. Please inquire directly with Dr. Kim at su.yeong.kim@utexas.edu
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Interests
Mexican American and Chinese American families and immigration, acculturation, language brokering, parenting, depressive symptoms, school achievement, measurement invariance
Current Federal Funding: Principal Investigator
Funding Agency
Role
Title/Award Number
Total Award/Dates
National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities
PI
Socio-cultural Stress Profiles, Stress Responses, and Health in Mexican American Adolescents (1R21MD-012706-01A1)
$457,615 09/23/2019-06/30/2021
National Science Foundation’s Developmental Sciences Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences
PI
Collaborative Research: Stress, Academic Outcomes, and Health Outcomes among Language Brokers (BCS-1651128)
$505,844 06/15/2017-05/31/2020
Previous Federal Funding: Principal Investigator
Funding Agency
Role
Title/Award Number
Total Award/Dates
National Science Foundation’s Developmental Sciences Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences
PI
CAREER: Language Brokering and Child Adjustment in Mexican American Children
(*BCS-0956123)
$479,962
06/15/2010-5/31/2017
National Institutes of Health’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
PI
Language Brokering and Child Adjustment in Mexican American Families
(*1R03HD060045-01A2)
$149,586
9/13/2011-7/31/2015
National Institutes of Health’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
PI
Teenagers, Families, and Well-being
(*1R03HD051629-01A2)
$142,475
09/25/2008-08/31/2011
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Select Publications (107 Journal Publications)
Shen, Y., Seo, E., Walt, D. C., & Kim, S. Y. (in press). Stress of language brokering and Mexican American Adolescents' adjustment: The role of cumulative risk. Journal of Early Adolescence. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431619847526
Zhang, M., Kim, S. Y., & Hou, Y., & Shen, Y. (2020). Parent-adolescent acculturation profiles and adolescent language brokering experiences in Mexican immigrant families. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 49, 335-351. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-019-01064-5
Chen, S., Hou, Y. , Benner, A. D., & Kim, S. Y. (2020). Discrimination, language brokering efficacy, and academic competence among adolescent language brokers. Journal of Adolescence, 79, 247-257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2020.01.015
O’Gara, J. L., Calzada, E. J., & Kim, S. Y. (2020). The father’s role in risk and resilience among Mexican-American adolescents. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 90, 70-77. https://doi.org/10.1037/ort0000394
Kim, S. Y.,Chen, S., Hou, Y., Zeiders, K., H. & Calzada, E. J. (2019). Parental socialization profiles in Mexican-origin families: Considering cultural socialization and general parenting practices. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 25, 439-450. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000234
Sim, L.,Kim, S. Y., Zhang, M., & Shen, Y. (2019). Parenting and centrality: The role of life meaning as a mediator for parenting and language broker role identity. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 48, 510-526.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-018-0963-x
Shen, Y., Kim, S. Y., & Benner, A. D. (2019). Burdened or efficacious? Subgroups of Chinese American language brokers, predictors, and long-term outcomes. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 48, 154-169.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-018-0916-4
Kim, S. Y., Schwartz, S. J., Perreira, K. M., & Juang, L. P. (2018). Culture’s influence on stressors, parental socialization, and developmental processes in the mental health of children of immigrants. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 14, 343-370. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-050817-084925
Kim, S. Y., Zhang, M., Zeiders, K., Sim, L., & Gleason, M. E. J. (2018). Acute salivary cortisol response among Mexican American adolescents in immigrant families. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 24,510-520.https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000218
Kim, S. Y., Hou, Y., Song, J., Schwartz, S. J., Chen, S., Zhang, M., Perreira, K. M., & Parra-Medina, D. (2018). Profiles of language brokering experiences and contextual stressors: Implications for adolescent outcomes in Mexican immigrant families. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 47, 1629-1648. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-018-0851-4
Hou, Y.,Kim, S. Y., & Benner, A. D. (2018). Parent-adolescent discrepancies in reports of parenting and adolescent outcomes in Mexican immigrant families. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 47, 430-444.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-017-0717-1
Hou, Y., Neff, L. A., & Kim, S. Y. (2018). Language acculturation, acculturation-related stress, and marital quality in Chinese American couples. Journal of Marriage and Family, 80, 555-568.https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12447
Juang, L. P., Hou, Y., Bayless, S. D., & Kim, S. Y. (2018). Time-varying associations of parent-adolescent cultural conflict and youth adjustment among Chinese American families. Developmental Psychology, 54, 938-949.https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000475
Kim, S. Y., Hou, Y., & Gonzalez, Y. (2017). Language brokering and depressive symptoms in Mexican American adolescents: Parent-child alienation and resilience as moderators. Child Development, 88, 867-881. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12620
Kim, S. Y.,Hou, Y., Shen, Y., & Zhang, M. (2017). Longitudinal measurement equivalence of subjective language brokering experiences scale in Mexican American adolescents. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 23, 230-243.https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000117
Hou, Y., Kim, S. Y., Hazen, N., & Benner, A. D. (2017). Parents’ perceived discrimination and adolescent adjustment in Chinese American families: Mediating family processes. Child Development, 88, 317-331. https://doi.org/doi:10.1111/cdev.12603
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Research Award
- Outstanding Contribution to Research on Asian/Asian Americans, Society for Research in Child Development Asian Caucus, 2017
Top 25 Downloaded Article
- In July 2013, Kim et al. (2013) tiger parenting paper recognized as Top 25 downloaded papers in the previous 3 months by the American Psychological Association's PsycNET database
Best Paper Award
- In July 2013, Kim et al. (2013) tiger parenting paper (Does “Tiger Parenting” Exist? Parenting Profiles of Chinese Americans and Adolescent Developmental Outcomes”) recognized with Asian American Journal of Psychology Best Paper Award, 2014
Fellow Status
- Fellow, American Psychological Association, Division 45 (Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity, and Race), 2014
- Fellow, Association for Psychological Science, 2013
- Fellow, Asian American Psychological Association, 2013
Early Career Awards
- Young Scientist Award, International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development, 2010
- Early Career Award for Distinguished Contributions (Scholarship), Asian American Psychological Association, 2010
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Graduate
HDF 380k.1 (Human Development and Family Sciences): Research Methods in Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Texas at Austin
HDF 394 (Human Development and Family Sciences): Immigration and the Family, University of Texas at Austin
Undergraduate
HDF 315L (Human Development and Family Sciences): Research Methods in Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Texas at Austin
HDF 343 (Human Development and Family Sciences): Human Development in Ethnic Minority and Immigrant Families, University of Texas at Austin
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The following doctoral students are currently being supervised by Dr. Su Yeong Kim, for the Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Sciences
- Jinjin Yan
- Jiaxiu Song
- Wen Wen
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Undergraduate research assistants are sought for various positions, including interviewing and calling participants, data management, data analysis, transcriptions, and general office tasks related to the reserach. Contact su.yeong.kim@utexas.edu for more information and to schedule an interview. Students with written and verbal proficiency in Spanish or Chinese (Cantonese) are encouraged to inquire about current research opportunities. Spanish/Chinese language fluency is desirable but not required.
Dr. Kim is accepting new Ph.D. students for Fall 2022. Application deadline is December 1, 2021 for the Human Development and Family Sciences Ph.D. program at the University of Texas at Austin. Please inquire directly with Dr. Kim at su.yeong.kim@utexas.edu.
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