Lucy R. Zheng

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Tier 1 Director at TRAILS to Wellness

Effortful control refers to the propensity to regulate one’s impulses and behaviors, to focus and shift attention easily, and to motivate the self toward a goal when there are competing desires. Although it seems likely that these capacities are relevant to successful functioning in the school context, there has been surprisingly little longitudina...

Objective Previous research has shown that self‐esteem is associated with academic achievement. However, few studies have used longitudinal data to examine how self‐esteem and achievement co‐develop over a long time span, and even fewer have focused on ethnic minority youth. Method We used data from a longitudinal study of Mexican‐origin youth (N=...

Background The use of games for social skill development in the classroom is accelerating at a tremendous rate. At the same time, the research surrounding games designed for teaching social skills remains fragmented. This systematic review summarizes the current existing literature on social skill serious games for young people ages 5 to 19 and is...

Parents are not only caregivers to their children; they also have leisure routines that can impact their own well-being. However, little is known about how leisure activities change within the context of a couple during the transition to parenthood. This study uses latent growth curve models and data from the Swedish Pregnancy Panel to examine how...

Background To prevent the spread of SARS‐CoV‐2, hospitals around the world adopted protocols that, in varying ways, resulted in the exclusion of partners from hospital postnatal care wards. The objective of this study was to examine the effect this exclusion had on partners' satisfaction with postnatal care. Methods An online survey (the Swedish P...

Rationale Holistic antenatal care requires knowledge of individuals’ emotional response to pregnancy. Little is known about how a pregnant woman and her partner influence each other emotionally during a pregnancy. Objective This study examines six discrete emotions that expectant couples experience during pregnancy, how these emotions change mid-t...

Objective Examine the association between educational attainment and improvement in food practice outcomes of the California Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) participants. Design Secondary data analysis. Participants A total of 19,089 participants, 92.3% female, 77.2% Hispanic, 19.7% with ≤ sixth-grade education, and 68.9% wi...

The purpose of this study was to examine implementation of serving food and beverage evidence-based practices (nutrition EBPs) across CACFP participating licensed childcare centers (CCCs, n = 51) and family childcare homes (FCCHs, n = 49) in central California. Results indicated that FCCHs reported significantly higher (p < .05) implementation of n...

Background: Parent feeding practices play a critical role in children’s eating behaviors. Limited research has explored child-level correlates of parent feeding practices. Aim: To identify correlates of feeding practices (responsive and controlling) among parents of preschoolers US. Methods: Participants included parents (n = 273) of preschoolers (...

Information-seeking after making mistakes or when experiencing uncertainty, including bids for help, is an important aspect of self-regulated learning. We compared information-seeking during a puzzle-solving task in 8- and 9-year-olds, 11- and 12-year-olds, and 16- and 17-year-olds (N = 197). We found that 8- and 9-year-olds were less efficient in...

Background The California Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (CA EFNEP) provides nutrition education to low-income parents, and evaluates outcomes in nutrition practices (NP), food resource management practices (FRMP), food safety practices (FSP), and food security (FS) (not running out of food before the end of the month). Objective To...

Background In combination with healthy eating, physical activity is an essential component of a healthy lifestyle that can help prevent a range of chronic diseases among children. As role models and gatekeepers, parents can influence children's eating and physical activity behaviors through healthy practices, helping and teaching children to make h...

Although Latinx parents' perceptions of the climate of their children's schools may play a role in their children's academic adjustment, research examining this idea is sparse. Every 2 years beginning when children were in fifth grade (Mage = 10.86 years) until they were in 11th grade, Mexican-origin mothers (N = 674) reported on their perceptions...

Relational aggression—a psychological form of aggression—has numerous negative consequences for physical and emotional health. However, little is known about the risk factors that lead youth to engage in relational aggression. Using multimethod data from a longitudinal research of 674 Mexican‐origin youth, this study examined the influence of paren...