Yi-fu Chen received his Ph.D. in Sociology from Iowa State University. After graduation, he joined Center for Family Research at University of Georgia and has worked as a research statistician until 2012. He is currently an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at National Taipei University, Taiwan. His main research areas include sociology of crime and deviance (Criminology), sociology of family, life course research, and advanced quantitative methods. His research includes the development of integrated criminological theories, the efficacy of parenting programs designed to reduce drug use, gene by environment interaction (GXE) effect on young adults’ internalizing and externalizing problem behavior, and the impact of peer network on adolescent violent behavior.

His recent work falls into four main research topics. In criminology, his research focuses on the importance of cognitive schemas on violence and crime. He integrates two theories from criminology and social psychology on human violence to argue a four-element social schema model of violence. With empirical data from Taiwan, he tests the theoretical model. (in Chinese)

In GXE studies, he and his co-author investigate the effect of a novel gene (CRHR1) and its interaction effect with economic hardship on depression. The finding, published in Journal of Adolescent Health, demonstrates a protective effect of the CRHR1 on depression when the youth experience high economic hardship in childhood.

In intervention and prevention studies, he and his co-authors investigate the long-term effect of a family-based intervention program on smoking behavior among young adults. The finding, published in Pediatrics, shows that the family-based intervention program decreases the tobacco intake (in term of cotinine levels in blood) after ten years of the intervention participation. The long-term link is mediated by an improvement of family functioning among the intervention participants.

In youth development studies, he and his co-author investigated the developmental outcomes of youths experiencing early poverty and delineated diverse developmental trajectory groups with latent class analysis. He and his co-author also explored the protective role of family support for Asian youths from being in poverty using the Luxemburg income study.

Other publication can be found in Journal of Marriage and Family, Development and Psychopathology, Child Development, Criminology, and Prevention Science.

Selected Peer-reviewed Journal Papers

2024

• Chen, Wan-chi and Yi-fu Chen (2024). Rural Education, Teach for Taiwan and Teacher Effectiveness. Contemporary Educational Research Quarterly, 32(1): 77-117 (in Chinese). (in Chinese) (TSSCI).

2020

• Tai, Tsui-O and Yi-fu Chen. (2020). Effects of Household Composition, Social Welfare Age Orientation and Welfare Regimes on Youth Poverty: Comparison of East Asian and Western Welfare States. Taiwanese Journal of Sociology, 67: 1-62. (in Chinese) (TSSCI).

• Wei, Hsi-Sheng, An-Ti Shih, Yi-Fu Chen, and Jun Sung Hong. (2020). The Impact of Adolescent Parentification on Family Relationship and Civic Engagement. Journal of Social Work, 21(6), 1413-1432. (SSCI)

2019

• Chen, Hsing-Jung and Yi-fu Chen. (2019). Early Family Economic Disadvantages and Developmental Outcomes in Emerging Adulthood: A Latent Profile Analysis. Formosa Journal of Mental Health, 32(1): 89-118. (in Chinese) (TSSCI)

2017

• Chen, Yi-fu (2017). Violent Knowledge Structure and Adolescent Violent Behavior: A Social Cognitive Perspective. Journal of Social Sciences and Philosophy, 29(3): 343-379. (in Chinese) (TSSCI)

• Chen, Yi-fu, Yu, Tianyi, & Brody, H. Gene. (2017). Parenting Intervention at Age 11 and Cotinine Levels at Age 20 among Black Youth. Pediatrics, 140(1): e20164162. (SCI)

Book Chapters

In press

• Chen, Yi-fu (in press). Youth Problems and Poverty, in Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao (ed), Encyclopedia of Taiwan Studies, BRILL.

• Koo, Hearan, K. Heo, Tadahiko Maeda, Yi-fu Chen (in press). Data Harmonization of Social Well-Being Survey in Asia in Jaeyeol Yee, Hiroo Harada, and Masayuki Kanai (eds.), Social Well-being, Development, and Multiple Modernities in Asia, Springer.

2023

• Tai, Tsui-o, Yi-fu Chen, and Hsien-Chih Tu (2023). Domestic Labor Involvement of Young Taiwanese Couples in Different Partnership and Parenthood Statuses in Yi, Chin-Chun and Tsai, Ming-Chang (eds), Transition to Adulthood in East Asia: Illustrations from Taiwan Youth Studies, SAGE.

• Chen, Yi-fu and Chyi-in Wu (2023). Early Delinquency Trajectory and Developmental Outcomes in Adulthood: Findings from the Taiwan Youth Project in Yi, Chin-Chun and Tsai, Ming-Chang (eds), Transition to Adulthood in East Asia: Illustrations from Taiwan Youth Studies, SAGE.

2014

• Chen, Yi-fu. (2014). Early Adolescence. In: Michalos AC (Ed.). Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer, pp 1733-1735.

Selected Conference Papers

2024

• Chen, Yi-fu (2024). Cultural imperatives on parenting as a source of stress? The longitudinal investigation of the interactive effect of parenting scripts and parenting practices on parental well-being. Paper presented in SSWR 28th Annual Conference, Washington, DC. January 10-14, 2024.

2023

• Chen, Yi-fu (2023). Caring for the newborns: The influence of parenting scripts and practices on maternal well-being in Taiwan. Paper presented in 2023 USTP X SixERS Joint Symposium, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, November 28.

• Chen, Yi-fu (2023). The association between chronotype and adolescent life adjustment: The role of digital life of adolescents. Paper presented in 2023 Annual Conference of Taiwanese Sociology Association, National Taipei University, New Taipei City, November 18-19. (in Chinese).

• Chen, Yi-fu (2023). The association between adolescent digital platform use and mental health: The mediating role of digital stress. Paper presented in 2023 Annual Conference of Taiwanese Sociology Association, National Taipei University, New Taipei City, November 18-19. (in Chinese).

• Lin, Kuei-Hsiu & Yi-fu Chen (2023). Is parenting a source of parental stress on parental mental health? The interactive effect of parenting scripts and parenting practices. Paper presented in International Conference on Continuity and Changes in Families in East Asia, Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan. March 24-25.

• Chyi-in Wu & Yi-fu Chen (2023). The Impact of Social Capital upon Health and Well-Being of Individuals in Taiwan: Changes from 2010 through 2021. Paper presented in XX ISA World Congress of Sociology, Melbourne, Australia. June 26-July 1.

2022

• Chen, Yu-Hsiang & Yi-fu Chen. (2022). Stock Investment among Taiwanese Youths. Paper presented in 2022 Annual Conference of Taiwanese Sociological Association, National Pingtung University, Pingtung Taiwan, November 12 to 13. (in Chinese).

2021

• Tai, Tsui-o & Yi-fu Chen (2021). School-to-work Transitions and Well-being of Young Adults in Taiwan. Paper presented in 2021 NTPU Flagship Project Conference. Dec 5.

• Wei, Hsi-Sheng, Yi-Ping Hsieh, Yi-Fu Chen, Josef Kuo-Hsun Ma, & Yu-Sheng Lin (2021). Prevalence and Associated Factors of Sexting among Taiwanese Adolescents. Paper presented in 2021 NTPU Flagship Project Conference. Dec 5.

• Chen, Yi-fu, Hsi-Sheng Wei, Josef Kuo-Hsun Ma, Yi-Ping Hsieh, & Yu-Sheng Lin (2021). Youth Sexting in Taiwan: Trends and its Association with Bullying Behavior. Paper presented in 2021 NTPU Flagship Project Conference. Dec 5.

• Ma, Josef Kuo-Hsun, Yi-Fu Chen, Chia-Chen Chou, Hsi-Sheng Wei, Yi-Ping Hsieh, & Yu-Sheng Lin (2021). Gender Differences in the Prevalence of Cyberbullying across Educational Levels. Paper presented in 2021 NTPU Flagship Project Conference. Dec 5.

• Chen, Yi-fu, Andy Liyoung Chou, & Wan-chi Chen (2021). Public College Admission of Indigenous People: The Role of Affirmative Action in Higher Education and the Types of Residence. Paper presented in 2021 NTPU Flagship Project Conference. Dec 5.

• Lin, Kuei-Hsiu & Yi-fu Chen (2021). Being Good Parents: The Cultural Imperatives of Parenting and the Wellbeing of Parents. Paper presented in International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS) 2021 Virtual Conference Program. August 24-28.

• Tai, Tsui-O & Yi-fu Chen (2021). Types of Youth’s School-to-work Transitions: Causes and the Consequences for their Job Careers. Paper presented in 2021 Population Association of Taiwan Annual Meeting, Taipei, Taiwan, April 24.

• Lin, Kuei-Hsiu & Yi-fu Chen (2021). What You Have Done Is Not What I Perceived: The Difference between Parents and Children on Parenting and its Association with Children’s Developmental Outcomes. Paper presented in 2021 Population Association of Taiwan Annual Meeting, Taipei, Taiwan, April 24.

• 2005 Reuben Hill Award, National Council on Family Relations (NCFR)