Yan Lou ‘22

“Word from Home: The Impact of Child-Parent Contact on Chinese International Students’ Daily Psychological Distress”

Yan Lou’s impressive senior psychology thesis explored the psychology of stress within interactions Chinese International students have with their parents. Lou spent three semesters on this project, beginning with literature review until hopeful publication with Lou as the first author.

To our knowledge, it is the first study in the field to look at day-to-day interaction between Chinese international students and their parents. The study design involved hard work on Lou’s part, connecting with Chinese students associations across the US to ask them to be a part of the study, about which they said, “I found much support and many participants who want to participate because they also believe in the importance of better understanding and empowering East Asian students during their exploration of a foreign land and through adolescence, a critical developmental period.” Their project surveyed 50 students from 22 undergraduate universities and colleges in the US in a daily diary design to monitor stress levels.

We congratulate Lou on their hard work in this important field and give our appreciation to Chair and Professor of Psychology at Oberlin, Nancy Darling, in her support and mentorship of Lou. Lou hopes to continue their research in this area in graduate work in human development and family studies.