Dr. 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.