DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY

Research Interests

Edith Chen’s research seeks to understand why poverty is associated with poor physical health outcomes in children, with a focus on the psychological and biological mechanisms that explain these relationships. She is also interested in questions of resilience—that is, why some children who come from adversity manage to thrive and maintain good profiles of health.

Selected Publications

Miller, G. E., Chen, E., Yu, T., & Brody, G. H. (2020). Youth who achieve upward socioeconomic mobility display lower psychological distress but higher metabolic syndrome rates as adults: Prospective evidence from Add Health and MIDUS. Journal of the American Heart Association, 9, e015698.

Chen, E., Shalowitz, M. U., Story, R. E., Hayen, R., Leigh, A. K. K., Hoffer, L. C., Austin, M. K., Lam, P. H., Brody, G. H., & Miller, G. E. (2019).  The costs of high self-control in Black and Latino youth with asthma:  Divergence of mental health and inflammatory profiles.  Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 80, 120-128.

Levine, C. S., Markus, H. R., Austin, M. K., Chen, E., & Miller, G. E. (2019). Students of color show health advantages when they attend schools that emphasize the value of diversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116, 6013-6018. 

Chen, E., G. Miller, T. Yu and G. Brody. 2018. Unsupportive parenting moderates the effects of family psychosocial intervention on metabolic syndrome in African American youth. International Journal of Obesity 42(4): 634–40. 

Gaydosh, L., K. Schorpp, E. Chen, G. Miller, and K. Harris. 2018. College completion predicts lower depression but higher metabolic syndrome among disadvantaged minorities in young adulthood. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115(1): 109–14.