Professor
Contact Information:
Email: ccheah@umbc.edu
Office: Math/Psychology 330
Phone: (410)455-1059
Fax: (410)455-1055
Lab: Sondheim 404
Phone: (410)455-5757
Website: https://ccadlab.umbc.edu/
Cheah CV – Updated September 2024
Education:
Ph.D. – University of Maryland, College Park
Area of Study:
Research Interests:
Dr. Cheah uses mixed-method and innovative approaches to understand how individual characteristics, relationships, socialization agents, and contexts interact to influence child and adolescent social-emotional development and physical health. Her research focuses on families from underrepresented (ethnic/racial, religious minority), immigrant, and low-income backgrounds in the United States and across different countries.
Learn more about Dr. Cheah’s research interests and the current research projects in the Culture, Child and Adolescent Development Laboratory.
Courses Taught:
Psychology and Culture (PSYC 230)
Child Development and Culture (PSYC 330)
Cultural Aspects of Human Development (Psyc 635)
Parenting (Psyc 730)
Graduate Research and Training Opportunities:
Graduate students are provided ample opportunities to contribute to research design on various projects, obtain experience with quantitative and qualitative methodologies, collaborate and lead on publications, network and participate in cross-cultural/international research projects.
“UMBC lab draws developmental psychology students from across the globe.” – Featured in the UMBC Magazine
Graduate Research and Training Opportunities:
Accepting new graduate students for Fall 2025
Undergraduate Research and Training Opportunities:
YES: Undergraduate opportunities available
Undergraduate research assistants can obtain experiences in data collection (interviewing parents and children, questionnaire assessments, observations of behaviors), data entry and management, library research, involvement in conference presentations and publications, and conducting independent research projects.
Graduate Program Affiliation(s):
Applied Developmental Psychology
Selected Publications (* the asterisks denote student authors mentored by Dr. Cheah):
Cho, H. S.*, Gürsoy, H.*, Cheah, C. S. L., Zong, X.*, & Ren, H.* (2024). To maintain or conceal one’s cultural identity? Chinese American parents’ ethnic-racial socialization during COVID-19. Journal of Family Psychology. 38(1), 26–37. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0001169
Ren, H.*, Cheah, C. S. L., Cho, H. S.*, & Aquino, A. K.* (2023). Cascading effects of Chinese American parents’ COVID-19 racial discrimination and racial socialization on adolescents’ adjustment. Child Development. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.14037
Sun, Y.*, Cheah, C. S. L., Hart, C. H. (2023). Parent-child relationship buffers the impact of maternal psychological control on aggression in temperamentally surgent children. Social Development. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12722
Vu, K. T. T.,* Cheah, C. S. L., & Halberstadt, A. (2023). Chinese immigrant child and maternal reactions to disappointment: Cultural fit impacts the bidirectional associations. Social Development. 32(2), 445-462. https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12619
Ren, H.*, Cheah, C. S. L., Zong, X.*, Wang, S.*, Cho, H. S.*, Wang, C.*, & Xue, X.* (2022). Age-varying associations between Chinese American parents’ racial-ethnic socialization and children’s difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic. Asian American Journal of Psychology,13(4), 351–363. https://doi.org/10.1037/aap0000278
Malti, T. & Cheah, C. S. L. (2021). Towards complementarity: Specificity and commonality in social-emotional development. [Introduction to the Special Section “Specificity and commonality: Sociocultural generalizability in social-emotional development”]. Child Development, 92(6), 1085-1094. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13690
Yip, T., Cheah, C. S. L., Kiang, L., Hall, G., & Comas-Diaz, L. (2021). “Rendered invisible: Are Asian Americans a model or a marginalized minority? [Introduction to the Special Issue “Rendered invisible: Are Asian Americans a model or a marginalized Minority?”]. The American Psychologist, 76(4), 575–581. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000857
Zong, X.*, Cheah, C. S. L., & Ren, H.* (2021). Chinese American adolescents’ experiences of COVID-19-related racial discrimination and anxiety: Person-centered and intersectional approaches. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 32(2), 451-469. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.1269
Cheah, C. S. L., Zong, X.*, Cho, H. S.*, Ren. H.*, Wang, S.*, Xue, X.*, & Wang, C. (2021). Chinese American adolescents’ experiences of COVID-19 racial discrimination: Risk and protective factors for internalizing difficulties. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 27(4), 559-568. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000498
Seo, Y. J., Cheah, C. S. L., & Hart, C. H. (2021). Longitudinal relations among child temperament, parenting, and acculturation in predicting Korean American children’s externalizing problems. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. Advance online publication. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000493
Cho, H. S.*, Cheah, C. S. L., Vu, K T.T.*, Selçuk, B., Yavuz, H. M., Şen, H. H., & Park, S.-Y. (2021). Culturally shared and unique meanings and expressions of maternal control across four cultures. Developmental Psychology, 57(2), 284–301. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001136
Cheah, C. S. L., Wang, C., Ren, H.*, Zong, X.*, Cho, H. S.*, & Xue, X.*, (2020). COVID-19 racism and mental health in Chinese American families. Pediatrics, Nov 146 (5). https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2020/08/28/peds.2020-021816
Balkaya-Ince, M.*, Cheah, C. S. L., Kiang, L., & Tahseen, M. (2020). Exploring daily mediating pathways of religious identity in the associations between maternal religious socialization and Muslim American adolescents’ civic engagement. Developmental Psychology, 56, 1446–1457. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000856
Cheah, C. S. L., Barman, S.*, Vu. K. T. T.*, Jung, S.*, Mandalapu, V., Masterson, T., Zuber, R., Boot, L., & Gong, J. (2020). Validation of a virtual reality buffet environment to assess food selection processes among emerging adults. Appetite, 153, 1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2020.104741
Zhou, N., Cheah, C. S. L., Wang, G., & Tan, T., (2020). Mothers’ feeding profiles among overweight, normal weight and underweight Chinese preschoolers. Appetite, 152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2020.104726
Vu, K. T. T.*, Cheah, C. S. L., Sun, S., Zhou, N., & Xue, X.* (2020). Adaptation and assessment of the Child Feeding Questionnaire for Chinese immigrant families of young children in the U.S. Child: Care, Health and Development, 46, 74-82. https://doi.org/10.1111/cch.12715
Cheah, C. S. L., Yu, J., Liu, J., & Coplan, R. J. (2019). Children’s cognitive appraisal moderates associations between psychologically controlling parenting and children’s depressive symptoms. Journal of Adolescence, 75, 109 – 119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2019.08.005
Vu., K. T. T.*, Castro, M.*, Cheah, C. S. L., & Yu., J. (2019). Mediating and moderating processes in the association between Chinese immigrant mothers’ acculturation and parenting styles in the U.S. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 10, 307-315. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/aap0000150
Ren, H.*, Cheah, C. S. L., Sang, B., & Liu, J. (2019). Maternal attribution and Chinese immigrant children’s social skills: The mediating role of authoritative parenting practices. Parenting: Science and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295192.2019.1694834
Balkaya, M.*, Cheah, C. S. L., & Tahseen, M. (2019). The role of religious discrimination and Islamophobia in Muslim-American adolescents’ religious and national identities and adjustment. Journal of Social Issues, Special Issue: To Be Both (and More): Immigration and Identity Multiplicity, 75, 538-567. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12326
Yu, J.*, Cheah, C. S. L., Hart, C. H., Yang, C., & Olsen, J. (2019). Longitudinal effects of maternal love withdrawal and guilt induction on Chinese American preschoolers’ bullying aggressive behavior. Development and Psychopathology, 31, 1467-1475. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579418001049
Cheah, C. S. L., Leung, C. Y. Y., & Bayram Özdemir, S. (2018). The social cognitive reasoning of Chinese Malaysian adolescents during filial dilemmas. Child Development, 89, 383-396. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12725
Yu, J.*, Cheah, C. S. L., Hart, C. H., & Yang, C. (2018). Child inhibitory control and maternal acculturation moderate effects of maternal parenting on Chinese American children’s adjustment. Developmental Psychology, 54(6), 1111-1123. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000517
Cheah, C. S. L. (2016). Charting future directions for research on Asian American child development. [Special issue on Research on Asian American Child Development]. Child Development, 87, 1055 – 1060. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12580
Cheah, C. S. L., Li, J., Zhou, N.*, Yamamoto, Y., & Leung, C. Y. Y. (2015). Understanding Chinese immigrant and European American mothers’ expressions of warmth. Developmental Psychology, 51, 1802-1811. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039855