Su Yeong Kim: Developmental Research

By Dr. Su Yeong Kim and Colleagues First published in the Annual Review of Clinical Psychology Introduction: Why It Matters In the U.S. today, a quarter of all the children are being reared in immigrant families. By 2050, that ratio will be one in three. Kids from Asian, Latino, etc., communities are the overwhelming majority of that group. Here, in this contemporary review, we will be discussing how cultural as well as structural factors, ranging from discrimination to parenting techniques , decide the mental health of immigrant children. A Theory of Well-being in Humans Here we present an informative model in which transcultural (universal) and culture-related (minority-related) sources of stress interact with parenting, community settings, and adolescent development to influence mental health outcomes. Main Takeaways 1. Children of Immigrants Experience Two Worlds of Stress These transcultural stressors are poverty and area disadvantage. Culture-specific sources of distress are dis...

  Understanding the Family Context: Su Yeong Kim’s Insights on Parenting Perceptions and Youth Well-Being In immigrant families, the parent-child relationship is uniquely shaped by cultural and linguistic factors that influence adolescent development and emotional well-being. One critical but less explored family dynamic is the discrepancy in how mothers and adolescents perceive parenting behaviors such as warmth monitoring and reasoning. These differences in perceptions are not mere misunderstandings but have profound implications for adolescent mental health outcomes. A recent study published in the  Journal of Youth and Adolescence  (2023) investigates this phenomenon within Mexican-origin immigrant families, a growing and vital population in the U.S. The research sheds light on how perceived parenting discrepancies relate to adolescents’ internalizing symptoms such as anxiety and depression through the mediating role of language brokering experiences. What Is Language...

When Parental Experiences of Discrimination Reach Beyond the Individual Discrimination continues to be a pervasive challenge for ethnic minority families in the United States and around the world. While much research has focused on how discrimination directly harms children and adolescents, a crucial but often overlooked part of the story lies in the experiences of parents. When parents face discrimination, whether at work, in social settings, or in public spaces, those stresses do not exist in isolation. A systematic review of 30 empirical studies conducted by Su Yeong Kim , Jiaxuan Zhang · Wen Wen · Yayu Du · Yishan Shen · Kiera M. Coulter · Jinjin Yan· María Paula · Yávar Calderón , published in Adolescent Research Review , reveals how a parent’s exposure to bias can ripple through family dynamics and impact ethnic minority adolescents during a formative stage of development. Understanding the Family Link: Why Parental Discrimination Matters for Teens The family is arguably the mo...