In May, the Columbia China Center for Social Policy celebrated the graduation of three doctoral students and one master’s student, all fellows of the China Center. All four students made invaluable contributions to the research and activities of the China Center for Social Policy. We send them warm congratulations on their achievements.
Dr. Nan Jiang earned her Ph.D. from the Columbia School of Social Work. Her dissertation was titled The Impact of Adult Children’s Education on Elderly Parents’ Health and Old-Age Support: Evidence from the United States and China. Using large nationally representative data sets in the US and China, Dr. Jiang identified pathways through which children’s human capital affects parents in later life and suggested that offspring’s human capital is important for parental health and old-age support. This research has significant implications for the amelioration of health disparities related to intergenerational inequality in both the US and China. Dr. Jiang will begin her new career as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Work at National University of Singapore this fall.
Dr. Yixuan Wang received her Ph.D. degree from Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service. Her dissertation title was Sense of Social Belonging, Parenting, and Child Outcomes: Associations among Rural-to-Urban Migrants in China and Chinese Immigrants in the United States. Dr. Wang analyzed data of Chinese immigrants in the New York, New Jersey, and Hawaii and rural-to-urban migrants in Beijing. Her findings suggest that (im)migrant children’s performance in school could be enhanced by cultivating a sense of social belonging among both parents and children. Her research in Beijing indicates the need for a relaxation of the household registration policy (Hukou) and more informed teaching practices among educators to improve migrant children’s outcomes. Dr. Wang will begin her new career as an Assistant Professor at China Youth University of Political Studies this Fall.
Dr. Yu Yang also earned her Ph.D. from Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service (GSS). Her dissertation examined Pathways Between Maternal Depression and Child Outcomes and won the Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award from Fordham University GSS. Using the 15-year longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, her dissertation shows that maternal depression is significantly and negatively associated with children’s behavior problems and parenting behaviors in both short and long terms. Father involvement, mother’s social support, and child’s gender significantly moderate the associations between maternal depression and children’s outcomes and parenting behaviors. Parenting behaviors play a significant mediating role in the associations between maternal depression and children’s outcomes. Dr. Yang’s findings suggest that maternal depression has long-lasting negative effects on children’s behavioral and cognitive outcomes when they grow into adolescents. Dr. Yang will begin her new career as a Research Specialist at the Center for Research on Child Wellbeing at Princeton University this summer.
Yahan Yang received her MSW degree from the Columbia School of Social Work, with a concentration in Policy Practice and field of practice in children, youth, and families. During her studies at Columbia, Yahan completed all coursework with a strong academic record. She did her first-year internship at the Culture Enrichment and Community Service Department of Hamilton-Madison House. Her second-year internship was with the Columbia Population Research Center and China Center for Social Policy, where she served as both a research and administrative assistant. As a research assistant, Yahan participated in data collection, data entry, and literature reviews for several research projects on poverty alleviation and social policies in China and parenting practices among Chinese immigrants in New York City. Yahan holds a BA from Renmin University of China and will begin her new career as an Assistant Researcher at the Center for China & Globalization in Beijing this summer.
We send our sincere congratulations to the graduates and wish them a bright future!