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

Broadly, my primary research interest centers on a wide array of topics:  (a) maternal adaptation (e.g., perinatal psychopathology) during the transition to parenthood and its implications for child and parental development over the lifespan; (b) early parental emotion socialization (especially their responses to child distress such as crying) and child development from infancy through early adolescence; (c) early childhood adversities (especially psychological maltreatment and extreme [economic] deprivation) and subsequent adjustment over the life course from 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 minority 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, Internet gaming disorder); 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. 

I am serving as the Associate Editor for Journal of Social and Personal Relationships (2020 – Present), the Editorial Fellow for American Psychologist (2024 – Present), the Consulting/Advisory Editor for Journal of Research on Adolescence (2022 – Present), Journal of Family Psychology (2024 – Present), Psychology of Women Quarterly (2024 – Present), and Family Process (2022 – Present), and Editorial Board Member for Journal of Family Theory & Review (2019 – Present), Family Relations (2021 – Present), and Family Transitions (Formerly the Journal of Divorce & Remarriage) (2023 – Present). I am also reviewer for many prestigious 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.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS
* Corresponding Author; # Co-First Authorship

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., Zhou, N., Buehler, C., Li, X., Liang, Y., & Chen, Y. (2023). 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. Advance online publication.  https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12931

Cao, H., Leerkes, E. M., & Zhou, N. (2022). 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. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000382

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

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. (2022). 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. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0001283

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., 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.

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

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

Liang, Y., Zhou, N., Cao, H.*, Li, J., & Bao, R. (2023). Revisiting implications of early family economic conditions for adolescent adaptations: An integrative cascade model. Journal of Family Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0001124

Zhou, N., Liang, Y., Cao, H.*, Song, K., Chen, Y., Hao, R., & Zhang, J. (2022). Chinese adolescents’ problematic cellphone use: Exploring the implications of configuration profiles of cellphone-specific parenting behaviors. Computers in Human Behavior, 137, 107408.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2022.107408

Li, X.#, Cao, H.#, Zhou, N., Ju, X., Lan, J., Zhu, Q., & Fang, X. (2018). Daily communication, conflict resolution, and marital quality in Chinese marriage: A three-wave, cross-lagged analysis. Journal of Family Psychology, 32(6), 733–742. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000430

RESEARCH LABORATORY

Multiple Ms (i.e., Motherhood, Marriage, Maltreatment, & Minority) (M&M) Lab

RESEARCH INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

We are looking for highly motivated students. Feel free to contact Dr. Cao via emails if you are interested in joining us.