Center for Global Asia
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Assistant Professor of Psychology
Email: xuanli@nyu.edu
Office Phone: +86 (21) 20595239
Homepage Link: https://shanghai-nyu.academia.edu/XuanLi
Xuan Li is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at NYU Shanghai, and is an affiliated member of NYU-ECNU Institute for Social Development, and Department of Applied Psychology, NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. Prior to joining NYU Shanghai, she was research associate at German Youth Institute (Deutsches Jugendinstitut), Munich, Germany . She holds a PhD and a MPhil in Social and Developmental Psychology from University of Cambridge, and undergraduate degrees in Germanistik and Psychology from Peking University.
Professor Li 's research focuses on fatherhood, parent-child interactions and relationships, and children and adolescents' socioemotional development in contemporary Chinese societies. She is also interested in general issues pertaining to human development, family research, and gender studies. She has authored several book chapters on family and parent-child relations in China, and her work has appeared in interdisciplinary journals such as Cross-Cultural Research and China Quarterly. She is currently completing a monograph Chinese Fatherhood: Ideals, Involvement, Interactions, and Influences, to be published by Routledge.
Professor Li is the recipient of John & Beatrice Whiting Memorial Award for Outstanding Student in Cross-Cultural Studies, Society for Cross-Cultural Research (2012). She is affiliated to professional bodies such as Society for Research on Child Development and International Association of Cross-Cultural Psychology, and had served on the Student Advisory Committee of International Society for Interpersonal Acceptance-Rejection from 2012 to 2015.
Parent-child interactions and relationships
Socioemotional development
Contemporary China
Chuang, S. S., Li, X., & Huang, C-Y. (in press). Immigrant Chinese families from Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan: From past to present. In In R. Moodley, S. Akram, & U. Gielen (Eds.), Asian families in North America. New York, NY: Springer Science+Business Media.
Li, X. & Meier, J. (in press). Father love versus mother love: Contributions of parental acceptance to children's psychological adjustment. Journal of Family Theory and Review.
Zerle-Elsäßer, C. & Li. X. (2017). Aktive Vaterschaft: Definition und Einflussfaktoren. Zeitschrift der Familienforschung/Journal of Family Research, 29(1), 11-31. (in German) doi: 10.3224/zff.v29i1.01
Li, X. (2016). The 'Nursing Dad'? Constructs of Fatherhood in Chinese Popular Media, Intersections: Gender and sexuality in Asia and the Pacific, 39.
Li, X. & Jankowiak, W. (2016). The Chinese father: Masculinity, conjugal love, and parenting. In: K. Louie (Ed.). Changing Chinese Masculinities: From imperial pillars of state to global real men. (pp. 186-203). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Jankowiak, W. & Li, X. (2016). Emergent conjugal love, mutual affection, and female marital power. In: S. Harrell & G. Santos (Eds.), Transformations of Chinese patriarchy. Contemporary anthropological perspectives. University of Washington Press.
Li, X., Zerle-Elsäßer, C., Entleitner-Phleps, C., & Schier, M. (2015). Father 2015: How active are they, how are they doing and what do they want? A latest study of the German Youth Institute [Väter 2015: Wie aktiv sind sie, wie geht es ihnen, und was brauchen sie? Eine aktuelle Studie des Deutschen Jugendinstitut](in German). Retrieved from: http://www.dji.de/fileadmin/user_upload/bibs2015/Vaeterreport_Langfassung.pdf
Li, X. (2015). Book review Children, rights and modernity in China: Raising self-governing citizens by O. Naftali. China Quarterly, 223, pp.814-856.
Li, X. & Lamb, M. E. (2015). Fathering in Chinese culture: Traditions and transitions. In J. Roopnarine (Ed.). Fathers across cultures: The importance, roles, and diverse practices of dads (pp. 273-306). New York, NY: Praeger.
Jankowiak, W., & Li, X. (2014). The decline of the chauvinistic model of Chinese masculinity. Chinese Sociological Review, 46(4), 3-18. doi: 10.2753/CSA2162-0555460401
Li, X. (2014). Parental power-prestige and the effects of paternal versus maternal acceptance on the psychological adjustment of Chinese adolescents. Cross-Cultural Research, 1-8. doi: 10.1177/1069397114528297
Li, X., & Lamb, M. E. (2013). Fathers in Chinese culture: From stern disciplinarians to involved parents. In D. W. Shwalb, B. J. Shwalb, & M. E. Lamb (Eds.), Fathers in cultural context (pp.15-41). New York, NY: Routledge/Taylor & Francis.
Selected Conference Presentations
Li, X. & Zerle-Elsäßer, C. (2017, April). The Determinants of Active Fatherhood: Individual, Couple and Family Characteristics. Paper presented at Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research on Child Development, Austin, Texas.
Li, X. (2017, April). Predictors an Outcomes of mothering and fathering practices in urban China. Paper presented at Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research on Child Development, Austin, Texas.
Li, X. , Huang, C.-Y., & Shen, A. C.-T. (2016, July). The influences of dating and academic performance on adolescent adjustment in contemporary Chinese societies. Paper presented at Biennial Meeting the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development, Vilnius, Lithuania. (Co-chair of symposium "Culture and Social adjustment: Perspectives from the Study of Chinese Youth")
Introduction to Psychology (Fall)
Cultures of Psychology (Spring)
Adolescent Development (starting from Spring 2018)
Media Writings and Appearances
Li, X. (2017, January). Pity China's bare branches: Unmarried men stuck between tradition and capitalism. In: TheConversation.
Li, X. (2016, October). China's marriage rate is plummeting - and it's because of gender inequality. In: TheConversation.
Li, X. Interview with Ziren Lin. Yanfucimu yijing guoshi, dan xianzai de Zhongguo fuqin hai que shenme? [Now that "strict father, warm mother" model is out. What do Chinese fathers need?] Jiemian, 18.06.2017. [In Chinese]
Li, X. Interview with You Li and Bibek Bhandari. Shifting Attitudes Prepare China's Fathers for Parenting Role. Sixth Tone, 17.06.2017.
Li, X. Interview with Mandy Zuo. How China' s fearsome Tiger Dads found their way back into fashion: Strict fathers are winning support as society resists rising Western influence to embrace traditional Chinese parenting style. South China Morning Post, 17.06.2017.
Li, X. Interview with Didi Kirsten Tatlow. In China, a Lonely Valentine's Day for Millions of Men. New York Times, 14.02.2017.
Li, X. Interview with Clifford Coonan. Women in China (four-part series). Irish Times, 27-30.12.2016.
Li, X. Interview with Stephen Morgan-McKay. The Changing Face of Fatherhood, GB Times, 09.11.2015.
Li, X. Interview with Chloe Tilley. China's Two-Child Policy, BBC World Have Your Say, BBC World Service, 29.10.2015.
PhD, Psychology
University of Cambridge, 2015
MPhil, Social and Developmental Psychology
BA, German Language and Literature
Peking University, 2009
BA (Double Degree), Psychology
Chinese (Mandarin)