Xin Feng

Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies, University of Connecticut

• Child Development
  • Emotion expression
  • Emotion regulation
  • Temperament
• Educational Statistics and Research Methods
  • Longitudinal data analysis
• Human Development and Family Studies
  • Parent-child interaction
• Maternal and Child Health
  • Maternal depression and child emotional development
• Sociolinguistics

Xin Feng's research centers on the interplay of temperament, emotion regulation, parent-child interaction, and contextual influences (e.g., parental mental health and culture) in the development of adaptive and maladaptive socioemotional functioning throughout childhood. Using advanced longitudinal and observational methods, her research has contributed to the understanding of the risk mechanisms of childhood internalizing symptoms, such as depression and anxiety, as well as the processes of emotional development and adjustment outcomes across normative and at risk populations.

She has several ongoing research projects that investigates emotional and cognitive regulation in preschool-age children of depressed and non-depressed mothers. She is particularly interested in examining the intricate relations between cognitive and emotion regulation, the role they play in the development of early emotional and behavioral problems, and how these cognitive and emotional processes may serve as mechanisms that link maternal depression and child adverse outcomes.

2021 – present: Professor, Ohio State University, Department of Human Sciences, Human Development and Family Science Program

2014 – 2021: Associate Professor, Ohio State University, Department of Human Sciences, Human Development and Family Science Program

2012 – present: Faculty Affiliate, Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy, The Ohio State University

2008 – 2014: Assistant Professor, Ohio State University, Department of Human Sciences, Human Development and Family Science Program

2007 – 2008: Postdoctoral research associate, University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic

2005 – 2007: Postdoctoral research associate, University of Pittsburgh, Department of Psychology

Peer reviewed articles (* denotes student author)

Feng, X., Harkness, S., Super, C. M., Welles, B., Bermudez, M. R., Bonichini, S., Moscardino, U., & Zylicz, P. O. (2021). Parents’ concepts of the successful school child in seven Western cultures. New Directions in Child and Adolescent Development, 170, 143-170. doi: 10.1002/cad.20337  

*Ku, S., & Feng, X. (2021). Maternal depressive symptoms and the growth of child executive function: Mediation by maternal sensitivity. Manuscript revised and resubmitted to the Journal of Family Psychology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1037/fam0000832

Wu, Q., Feng, X., Yan, J., Hooper, E. G., Gerhardt, M., Ku, S. (2021). Maternal emotion coaching styles in the context of maternal depressive symptoms: Associations with preschooler’s emotion regulation. Emotion. doi:10.1037/emo0000916

*Yan, J., Feng, X., Schoppe-Sullivan, S., *Gerhardt, M., & Wu, Q. (2021). Maternal depressive symptoms predict girls’ but not boys’ emotion regulation: A prospective moment-to-moment observation study. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, 49, 1227-1240.

*Gerhardt, M., Feng, X., Wu, Q., Hooper, E. G., & Ku, S. (2020). A naturalistic study of parental emotion socialization: Unique contributions of fathers. Journal of Family Psychology, 34, 204-214. doi: 10.1037/fam0000602

*Wu, Q., & Feng, X. (2020). Infant emotion regulation and cortisol response during the first two years of life: Association with maternal parenting profiles. Developmental Psychobiology. doi: 10.1002/dev.21965

*Ku, S., Feng, X., Hooper, E. G., Wu, Q., & Gerhardt, M. (2019). Interactions between familial risk profiles and preschoolers’ emotionality in predicting executive function. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 63, 76-86. doi: 10.1016/j.appdev.2019.06.001

*Wu, Q., Feng, X., *Gerhardt, M., & Wang, L. (2019). Maternal depressive symptoms, rumination, and child emotion regulation. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. doi: 10.1007/s00787-019-01430-5

*Wu, Q., Feng, X., Hooper, E. G., *Gerhardt, M., *Ku, S., & *Chan, M. H. M. (2019). Mother’s emotion coaching and preschooler’s emotionality: Moderation by maternal parenting stress. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 65. doi: 10.1016/j.appdev.2019.101066

*Yan, J., Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J., & Feng, X. (2019). Trajectories of mother-child and father-child relationships across middle childhood and associations with depressive symptoms. Development and Psychopathology, 31, 1381-1393. doi: 10.1017/S0954579418000809 

*Yan, J., Feng, X., & Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J. (2018). Longitudinal associations between parent-child relationships in middle childhood and child-perceived loneliness. Journal of Family Psychology, 32, 841–847. doi: 10.1037/fam0000446

Feng, X., *Hooper, E., & *Jia, R. (2017). From compliance to self-regulation: Development during early childhood. Social Development, 26, 981-995. doi: 0.1111/sode.12245

*Hooper, E., Feng, X., Christian, L., & Slesnick, N. (2015). Emotion expression, depressive symptoms, and stress: Maternal profiles related to child outcomes. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 43, 1319-1331. doi: 10.1007/s10802-015-0019-6

Feng, X., Harkness, S., Super, C. M., & *Jia, R. (2014). Shyness and adaptation to school in a Chinese community. Infant and Child Development, 23, 662-671. doi: 10.1002/icd.1851

Feng, X., Forbes, E. E., Kovacs, M., George, C. J., Lopez-Duran, N. L., Fox, N. A., Cohn, J. F. (2012). Children’s depressive symptoms in relation to EEG frontal asymmetry and maternal depression. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 40(2), 265-276.

Feng, X., Shaw, D. S., Moilanen, K. L. (2011). Parental negative control moderates the shyness–emotion regulation pathway to school-age internalizing symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 39, 425-436.

Feng, X., Keenan, K., Hipwell, A. E., Henneberger, A. K., Rischall, M. S., Butch, J., Coyne, C., Boeldt, D., Hinze, A., Babinski, D. (2009). Longitudinal associations between emotion regulation and depression in preadolescent girls: Moderation by the caregiving environment. Developmental Psychology. 45, 798-808.

Feng, X., Shaw, D. S., Kovacs, M. K., Lane, T., O’Rourke, F. E., & Alarcon, J. H. (2008). Emotion regulation in preschoolers: The roles of behavioral inhibition, maternal affective behavior, and maternal depression. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49, 132-141. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01828.x

Feng, X., Shaw, D. S., & Silk, J. S. (2008). Developmental trajectory of anxiety symptoms among boys during early and middle childhood. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 117, 32-47. doi: 10.1037/0021-843X.117.1.32

Feng, X., Shaw, D. S., Skuban, E. M., & Lane, T. (2007). Emotional exchange in mother-child dyads: Stability, mutual influence, and the association with maternal depression and child problem behaviors. Journal of Family Psychology, 21, 714-725. doi: 10.1037/0893-3200.21.4.714