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

Chen, E., T. Yu, K. B. Ehrlich, P. H. Lam, T. Jiang, T. W. McDade, G. E. Miller, and G. H. Brody. 2024. Family disadvantage, education, and health outcomes among Black youth over a 20 year period. JAMA Network Open 7, e242289.

Chen, E., P. Lam, T. Yu, and G. Brody. 2023. Racial disparities in school belonging and prospective associations with diabetes and metabolic syndrome. JAMA Pediatrics 177(2): 141–8. 

Chen, E., T. Yu, G. Brody, P. Lam, B. Goosby, and G. Miller. 2023. Discrimination and inflammation in adolescents of color. Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science 3(2): 204–12. 

Chen, E., G. H. Brody, & G. E. Miller. 2022.  What are the health consequences of upward mobility?  Annual Review of Psychology, 73, 599-628.

Chiang, J. J., P. H. Lam, E. Chen, & G. E. Miller. 2022. Psychological stress during childhood and adolescence and its association with inflammation across the lifespan: A critical review and meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 148, 27–66.

Chen, E., Lam, P. H., Finegood, E. D., Turiano, N. A., Mroczek, D. K., & Miller, G. E. 2021.  The balance of giving versus receiving social support and all-cause mortality in a US national sample.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118, e2024770118