Meet the Team

Research Interests

My research interest is situated at the intersection of interplay between individual and context, methodology, and prevention/intervention. I am passionate about applying innovative methods to investigate how the transactional dynamic processes between individuals and their developmental contexts foster positive development (e.g. individual strength and competence, relationship health, ​optimal well-being, upward developmental trajectory, and resilience), and how to apply such knowledge and advanced methods to inform intervention for promoting individual well-being in real life.

Substantively, I am interested in understanding individual positive development from a dynamic-focused, system-oriented, and strength-based perspective, by identifying positive assets and processes in interpersonal contexts (e.g., in family systems, friend and peer relationships, romantic relationships, and social interaction in general). My research focuses on how they may accumulate or change over time (e.g., momentarily, daily, yearly) and interact with broader ecological contexts (e.g., school, community, culture).
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Methodologically, I am interested in 1) mixture modeling (e.g. LCA, LPA, LTA) from person-centered approach that acknowledges individual differences, 2) multilevel modeling (MLM) that accounts for factors from different levels of contexts, 3) time-varying effect modeling (TVEM) that enables the estimation of dynamic associations across time, and 4) structural equation modeling (SEM) and dynamic system modeling (DSM) that capture transactional process and system dynamics in complex data structure.
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