Prof. Hongjian CAO

EDUCATION

• Ph.D. (Human Development and Family Studies), 2017, University of North Carolina (Greensboro), USA
• M.Sc. (Developmental and Educational Psychology), 2013, Beijing Normal University (Beijing), China
• B.Sc. (Special Child Education), 2010, Beijing Normal University (Beijing), China

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Professionally, I identify myself as a family psychologist and a developmental psychologist. My studies seek to understand human development in the context of family systems.

Broadly, my primary research interest centers on a wide array of topics, including: (a) maternal adaptation (e.g., perinatal psychopathology) during the transition to parenthood and its implications for child development and parents’ well-being over the lifespan; (b) early parental emotion socialization (especially their responses to children’s distress and positive emotions) and its implications for child development from infancy through early adolescence; (c) exposure to early childhood adversities (especially psychological maltreatment and extreme [economic] deprivation) and subsequent adjustment over the life course from a developmental cascades perspective; (d) (newlywed) couples’ relationship well-being and its key predictors, especially in historically underrepresented, non-Western family systems; as well as (e) parent-child and couple relationships within socially disadvantaged/marginalized family systems, particularly LGBTQ+ families.

In addition, I also conduct some research on: media use and child development (e.g., child and adolescent screen time, problematic cellphone use, problematic Internet gaming); the implications of family transitions for child development (especially parental divorce/separation); the implications of parental navigation of work-family issues for their psychological well-being and parental functioning; career development guidance (e.g., career-related parenting) during adolescence et al.

ACADEMIC JOURNAL EDITORIAL SERVICES

I am currently serving as an Associate Editor for Family Process (2025 – Present) and an Associate Editor for Journal of Social and Personal Relationships (2020 – Present).

I am an Editorial Fellow for both American Psychologist (2024) and Psychological Bulletin (2025). I provide Consulting/Advisory editorial service to Journal of Research on Adolescence (2022 – Present), Journal of Family Psychology (2024 – Present), and Psychology of Women Quarterly (2024 – Present). I am now sitting in the Editorial Boards for American Psychologist (2025 – Present), Journal of Family Theory & Review (2019 – Present), Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology (2024 – Present), Family Relations (2021 – Present), and Family Transitions (Formerly the Journal of Divorce & Remarriage) (2023 – Present).

In addition, I also actively play Guest Editor/Ad-hoc Reviewer roles for a number of prestigious academic journals, such as Child Development, Journal of Marriage and Family, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Social Science & Medicine, Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, NeuroImage, et al.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

* Corresponding Author; # Co-First Authorship; † Students
Please Check Out My Full Publication Records @ Google Scholar

Cao, H., †Wang, S., Zhou, N., & †Zhang, M. (2025). Delineating Temporal dynamics for the linkage between anxiety symptoms and problematic media use among Chinese adolescents. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 97, 101761. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2025.101761

†Fang, S., Zhou, N., Tornello, S. L., Guo, L., & *Cao, H. (2025). Linking intradyad coparenting stressor and extradyad heterosexist discrimination stressor with Chinese sexual minority mothers’ couple relationship quality: The moderating role of internalized homophobia. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000809

Cao, H., †Wang, S., Zhou, N., & Liang, Y. (2025). From childhood real-life peer victimization to subsequent cyberbullying victimization during adolescence: A process model involving social anxiety symptoms, problematic smartphone use, and internet gaming disorder. Psychology of Violence, 15(1), 106–120. https://doi.org/10.1037/vio0000548

Wu, Q., Zhou, N., He, J., Lin, X., & *Cao, H. (2024). Childhood emotional maltreatment and emerging adults’ body dissatisfaction: Self-compassion and body surveillance as explanatory mechanisms. Body Image, 51, 101799. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2024.101799

Cao, H., Zhou, N., †Qiao, J., †Wang, L.-X., Liang, Y., †Li, Y., †Wu, S., †Jiang, Z., & He, J. (2024). Gender minority stressors and psychological distress among Chinese transgender and gender diverse people: Variable-centered, person-centered, and psychological network approaches. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 53(10), 3945–3972. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-024-03003-3

Cao, H., Zhou, N., †Qiao, J., Liang, Y., †Li, Y., †Wu, S., †Jiang, Z., & He, J. (2024). Gender minority stressors and psychological distress among Chinese transgender and gender-diverse people: Pride as a protector and community connectedness as a compensator. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000776

Cao, H., †Meng, H., †Geng, X., †Lin, X., †Zhang, Y., †Yan, L., †Fang, S., †Zhu, L., †Wu, L., Wu, Q., Liu, H., Zhou, N., & Zhang, J. (2024). Childhood emotional maltreatment and subsequent affective symptoms among Chinese male drug users: The roles of impulsivity and psychological resilience. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 16(Suppl 1), S152–S162. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0001283

Cao, H., Zhou, N., Buehler, C., Li, X., Liang, Y., & †Chen, Y. (2024). Mothers’ work‐to‐family conflict, depressive symptoms, and parental role functioning: A five‐wave, cross‐lagged panel model from infancy through middle childhood. Family Relations, 73(2), 1178–1200. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12931

#, †Wang, S., #Cao, H., Zhou, N., & Wu, Q. (2024). Linking early emotional abuse/neglect with young adolescents’ social (versus general) anxiety symptoms: A developmental cascade through emotion regulation. Children and Youth Services Review, 166, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2024.107975

Liang, Y., Zhou, N., *Cao, H., Li, J., & †Bao, R. (2024). Revisiting implications of early family economic conditions for adolescent adaptations: An integrative cascade model. Journal of Family Psychology, 38(1), 174–188. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0001124

Cao, H., Zhou, N., & Leerkes, E. M. (2023). Primiparous mothers’ parenting self-efficacy in managing toddler distress: Childhood nonsupportive emotion socialization, adult attachment style, and toddler temperament as antecedents. Emotion, 23(8), 2205–2218. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001233

Cao, H., Leerkes, E. M., & Zhou, N. (2023). Origins and development of maternal self-efficacy in emotion-related parenting during the transition to parenthood: Toward an integrative process framework beyond Bandura’s model. Psychological Review, 130(6), 1612–1652. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000382

Zhou, N., †Meng, H., *Cao, H., & Liang, Y. (2023). Too-much-of-a-good-thing? The curvilinear associations among Chinese adolescents’ perceived parental career expectation, internalizing problems, and career development: A three-wave longitudinal study. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 70(5), 605–618. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000687

Cao, H., Fine, M. A., & Zhou, N. (2022). The divorce process and child adaptation trajectory typology (DPCATT) model: The shaping role of predivorce and postdivorce interparental conflict. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 25(3), 500-528.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-022-00379-3

Cao, H., †Ma, R., Li, X., Liang, Y., Wu, Q., Chi, P., Li, J.-B., & Zhou, N. (2022). Childhood emotional maltreatment and adulthood romantic relationship well-being: A multilevel, meta-analytic review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 23(3), 778–794. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838020975895

Zhou, N., Liang, Y., *Cao, H., Chen, Y., Lin, X., & Zhang, J. (2022). Body mass index and internalizing symptoms from early childhood through early adolescence: trend of codevelopment and directionality. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 63(3), 324-332. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13474

Cao, H., Zhou, N., Leerkes, E. M., & Su, J. (2021). The etiology of maternal postpartum depressive symptoms: Childhood emotional maltreatment, couple relationship satisfaction, and genes. Journal of Family Psychology, 35(1), 44–56. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000722

#Zhou, N., #Cao, H., Liu, F., †Wu, L., Liang, Y., †Xu, J., †Meng, H., †Zang, N., †Hao, R., †An, Y., †Ma, S., Fang, X., & Zhang, J. (2020). A four-wave, cross-lagged model of problematic internet use and mental health among Chinese college students: Disaggregation of within-person and between-person effects. Developmental Psychology, 56(5), 1009–1021. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000907

Cao, H., Zhou, N., & Leerkes, E. M. (2020). Childhood emotional maltreatment and couple functioning among women across transition to parenthood: A process model. Journal of Family Psychology, 34(8), 991–1003. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000662

Cao, H., Liang, Y., & Zhou, N. (2020). Proximal interpersonal processes in early childhood, socioemotional capacities in middle childhood, and behavioral and social adaptation in early adolescence: A process model toward greater specificity. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 48(11), 1395–1410. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-020-00696-7

#Liang, Y., #Cao, H., Zhou, N., Li, J., & Zhang, L. (2020). Early home learning environment predicts early adolescents’ adjustment through cognitive abilities in middle childhood. Journal of Family Psychology, 34(8), 905–917. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000675

Cao, H., Li, X., Chi, P., Du, H., Wu, Q., Liang, Y., Zhou, N., & Fine, M. A. (2019). Within-couple configuration of gender-related attitudes and its association with marital satisfaction in Chinese marriage: A dyadic, pattern-analytic approach. Journal of Personality, 87(6), 1189–1205. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12467

Cao, H., Fine, M., Fang, X., & Zhou, N. (2019). Chinese adult children’s perceived parents’ satisfaction with adult children’s marriage, in-law relationship quality, and adult children’s marital satisfaction. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 36(4), 1098-1122. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407518755319

Cao, H., Yuan, X., Fine, M., Zhou, N., & Fang, X. (2019). Neuroticism and marital satisfaction during the early years of Chinese marriage: The mediating roles of marital attribution and aggression. Family Process, 58(2), 478–495. https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12356

Cao, H., Zhou, N., Fine, M., Liang, Y., Li, J., & Mills‐Koonce, W. R. (2017). Sexual minority stress and same‐sex relationship well‐being: A meta‐analysis of research prior to the U.S. Nationwide legalization of same‐sex marriage. Journal of Marriage and Family, 79(5), 1258–1277. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12415

Cao, H., Mills‐Koonce, W. R., Wood, C., & Fine, M. A. (2016). Identity transformation during the transition to parenthood among same‐sex couples: An ecological, stress‐strategy‐adaptation perspective. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 8(1), 30–59. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12124

RESEARCH LABORATORY

Multiple Ms (i.e., Motherhood, Marriage, Maltreatment, Media & Minority) (M&Ms) Lab 人類發展與家庭研究實驗室
Some of the ongoing research projects in my lab include:
1) Early Exposure to Life Adversities (e.g., Child Maltreatment, Peer Victimization, Deprivation) and Subsequent Development over the Life Course from a Developmental Cascades Perspective
2) Media Use, Media-Related Parenting, and Mental Health among Young Children, Adolescents, and Emerging Adults
3) Experiences of stress and Personal/Relational/Familial Well-Being among Sexual and Gender Minority (LGBTQ+) People
4) Parents’ Adaptations to the Transition to Parenthood
5) Parental Emotion Socialization (especially Parents’ Reactions to Children’s Positive Emotions) and Child Development
6) Couple Relationship Well-being and its Key Determinants

RESEARCH INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

I am always willing and happy to mentor students in various capacities, including thesis advisor, committee member/examiner, as well as internship supervisor. Please refer to the posting below for more information and feel free to contact me if interested.