About

Dr. Xinyin Chen is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education (Penn GSE). His research focuses on socioemotional development in childhood and adolescence, examining how social, school, and psychological adjustment are influenced by developmental processes from a contextual-developmental perspective. He is particularly interested in the development of social competence, shyness-inhibition, and aggression, as well as the biological and socialization factors involved in these processes. Dr. Chen has conducted longitudinal projects in Chinese, North American, and other societies, exploring the links between cultural values and fundamental systems of socioemotional functioning, such as social initiative and self-control. His work also investigates the joint contributions of early temperamental characteristics and parenting practices across different cultural and social contexts, as well as the role of social interactions and relationships in mediating development. Additionally, his recent research considers the implications of macro-level societal changes for human development and the adjustment experiences of different generations of Asian children and adolescents in North America.

Research topics

• Developmental psychology
• Psychology
• Social psychology
• Clinical psychology
• Political Science
• Psychiatry

Selected publications

• The Structure of Social Competence and School Adjustment in Chinese Children and Adolescents: A Network Analysis

  The Journal of Early Adolescence · 2025-10-18

  articleOpen access

  This study examined the structure of social competence and the associations of its components with peer preference, academic achievement, and perceived self-worth in Chinese children and adolescents. The participants included 2,359 Chinese students (1,172 boys) in the fourth and eighth grades ( M age = 10 and 14 years). Social competence was measured using peer assessments. The results showed that leadership and the ability to form friendship were central nodes and that social attractiveness was more central in adolescence. Trustworthiness was the primary node positively associated with peer preference and social innovativeness was the primary node positively associated with academic achievement and perceived self-worth in both grades. The results help understand the meanings and functions of specific attributes of social competence in childhood and adolescence.

  PublisherDOI

• Sociometric likeability and perceived likeability: Relations with academic performance and psychological problems in Chinese children and adolescents.

  Developmental Psychology · 2025-05-12 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  = 10 and 13 years), in China. Data were obtained from multiple sources including peer assessments, teacher ratings, self-reports, and school records. Among the results, perceived likeability predicted later academic performance more robustly than sociometric likeability. Whereas sociometric likeability negatively predicted later psychological problems in elementary school students, perceived likeability negatively predicted later psychological problems in middle school students. The results indicate distinct patterns of contributions of sociometric likeability and perceived likeability to adjustment and the role of social reputation in strengthening the function of peer likeability, particularly in middle school students. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

  PublisherDOI

• Relations between Peer Group Status Hierarchy and Loneliness in Chinese and Canadian Adolescents: The Role of Group Support

  Journal of Youth and Adolescence · 2025-06-18 · 2 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Assessing care-based power-assertive parenting in Chinese families: Parent and child measures.

  Developmental Psychology · 2025-05-05 · 5 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  = 10 years, 385 boys) completed the child-report measure for maternal CBPAP and paternal CBPAP. Data on children's adjustment were collected from multiple sources. The results indicated a satisfactory fit of a one-factor model and internal consistency in the measures. Measurement invariance tests indicated the equivalence of the factor structure of the measures across gender and grades. Moreover, the CBPAP measures were positively associated with children's social and academic competence and negatively associated with children's behavioral problems. The study provided evidence for the psychometric properties of the measures and their meaningful relations with children's social, behavioral, and school adjustment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

  PublisherDOI

• Psychological acculturation: Perspectives, principles, processes, and prospects

  2025-05-21

  preprint

  <p>Traditionally, acculturation has been conceived and defined to include phenomena that result when groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous first-hand contact, with subsequent changes in the original culture patterns of either or both groups. However, it is individuals who actually migrate and adjust. Almost 250 million individuals today are said to live outside their country of origin. That number tallies to approximately one in 30 individuals living on earth. This chapter touches on some prominent principles, processes, and prospects of this perspective on individual-level psychological acculturation. We first review relevant general theory about migration and acculturation and then differentiate individual-level from group-level acculturation. Individual-level acculturation is not a uniform process as implied by a group-level approach. Next, we distinguish and discuss variability of different sorts that constitutes the heart of individual psychological acculturation. Psychological acculturation raises methodological, disciplinary, and policy considerations, and we overview those as well. Finally, we point to some profitable future directions of theory development and empirical inquiry in the area of psychological acculturation. Migration signifies physical relocation between geographic locales; acculturation signifies psychological adjustment. This chapter focuses on the individual-level aspects of this adjustment.</p>

  PublisherDOI

• Joint Developmental Trajectories of Social Assertiveness and Prosociality: A Parallel Process Latent Class Growth Analysis

  Journal of Youth and Adolescence · 2025-07-15 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Urban Chinese Adolescents’ Perspectives on Gender Roles and Differential Treatment: The Significance of Teachers and Schools

  Chinese Education & Society · 2025-07-28 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Role of BABY BOOM Transcription Factor in Promoting Somatic Embryogenesis and Genetic Transformation in a Woody Magnoliid <i>Liriodendron</i>

  Plant Cell & Environment · 2025-03-20 · 14 citations

  articleOpen access

  Somatic embryogenesis (SE) is a powerful biotechnological tool widely utilized for large-scale propagation and genetic transformation. Morphogenic genes like BABY BOOM (BBM) and WUSCHEL (WUS) play crucial roles in SE and are extensively applied to improve SE-based genetic transformation. However, the transcriptome profiling and key regulatory factors of SE in the woody magnoliid Liriodendron hybrid remain unclear. Here, we depicted the time-series transcriptome profiling of SE in Liriodendron hybrid, highlighting the temporal significance of morphogenic genes like BBM in embryogenic callus and developing somatic embryos. Expression patterns were validated using qRT-PCR and transgenic lines expressing β-glucuronidase (GUS) and red fluorescent protein mCherry driven by the LhBBM promoter. Overexpression of LhBBM, both constitutive (CaMV 35S promoter) and SE-specific (Liriodendron WOX9 promoter), enhanced SE and embryonic callus induction. Conversely, CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockout of LhBBM reduces SE efficiency without compromising callus induction. Furthermore, we developed a secondary callus induction method that minimized the heterogeneity of a transgenic callus line, confirming the sufficiency and necessity of LhBBM in SE. Notably, LhBBM significantly improved genetic transformation efficiency in Liriodendron. These findings establish LhBBM as a promising target for enhancing SE capacity and SE-based transformation efficiency, particularly in forest trees.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Parental warmth and children’s prosocial behavior: The role of group orientation

  Acta Psychologica Sinica · 2025-01-01

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Psychological acculturation: Perspectives, principles, processes, and prospects

  2025-05-21

  preprint

  &lt;p&gt;Traditionally, acculturation has been conceived and defined to include phenomena that result when groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous first-hand contact, with subsequent changes in the original culture patterns of either or both groups. However, it is individuals who actually migrate and adjust. Almost 250 million individuals today are said to live outside their country of origin. That number tallies to approximately one in 30 individuals living on earth. This chapter touches on some prominent principles, processes, and prospects of this perspective on individual-level psychological acculturation. We first review relevant general theory about migration and acculturation and then differentiate individual-level from group-level acculturation. Individual-level acculturation is not a uniform process as implied by a group-level approach. Next, we distinguish and discuss variability of different sorts that constitutes the heart of individual psychological acculturation. Psychological acculturation raises methodological, disciplinary, and policy considerations, and we overview those as well. Finally, we point to some profitable future directions of theory development and empirical inquiry in the area of psychological acculturation. Migration signifies physical relocation between geographic locales; acculturation signifies psychological adjustment. This chapter focuses on the individual-level aspects of this adjustment.&lt;/p&gt;

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Inhibition, Social Relationships, and Early Adulthood Outcomes

  NSF · $449k · 2012–2016

Frequent coauthors

• Junsheng Liu

  Shanghai Changning Mental Health Center

  67 shared

• Kenneth H. Rubin

  University of Maryland, College Park

  39 shared

• Dan Li

  University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center

  36 shared

• Niobe Way

  New York University

  32 shared

• Li Wang

  Hubei University of Education

  29 shared

• Robert J. Coplan

  Carleton University

  28 shared

• Dan Li

  Shanghai Normal University

  26 shared

• Huichang Chen

  26 shared

Education

• PhD

  University of Waterloo

Awards & honors

• Scholars Award from the William T. Grant Foundation
• Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the Interna…
• Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA, Div.…
• Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science (APS)
• Fellow of the American Educational Research Association (AER…