Dr. Xiang Zhou receives 2021 Center for Families Kontos Faculty Fellowship

Dr. Xiang Zhou, Assistant Professor of Counseling Psychology in the College of Education at Purdue University, has been awarded a 2021 Center for Families Kontos Faculty Fellowship to support his research, Burmese refugee adolescents’ psychosocial development: A longitudinal follow-up study. The award was recognized at a recent Center for Families Award Ceremony on Tuesday, April 20, 2021.

In the research project, Dr. Zhou will conduct a longitudinal study to investigate the resilience and risk factors that impact Burmese American refugee adolescents’ psychosocial development from a positive youth development framework. 

In collaboration with colleagues from Ball State University and the Burmese American Community Institute in Indianapolis, Dr. Zhou will be studying the psychosocial development of Burmese adolescents from Indianapolis high schools. “This project will result in the first longitudinal dataset collected on Burmese refugee youth in the United States, which is critically to provide empirically supported youth programming” stated Dr. Zhou.

The Kontos Fellowship focuses on optimizing the development of children and youth. Topics of particular interest include childcare and early childhood education; the health and development of children and youth in challenging contexts; and the inclusion of disadvantaged or underrepresented children and youth in educational, employment, or community settings. The Fellowship is named for Professor Susan Kontos, the founding director of the Center for Families and an international authority in the field of early childhood education.

Dr. Zhou joined Purdue University College of Education in 2019 and has a PhD in Counseling Psychology from the University of Minnesota. His broad research interests are at the intersection of culture and parenting. Specifically, Dr. Zhou interested in both basic science research to understand parenting constructs such as cultural socialization and parenting regulatory focus, as well as applied research in culturally adapted parenting interventions.

Learn more about the College of Education at Purdue University: https://education.purdue.edu//

Learn more about the Purdue Center for Families: https://www.purdue.edu/hhs/hdfs/cff/

Learn more about Dr. Xiang Zhou at: https://education.purdue.edu//faculty-profiles/name/xiang-zhou/

Source: Dr. Xiang Zhou, xiangzhou@purdue.edu, (765) 494-9739