Xiaomin Li

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University | PolyU · Department of Applied Social Sciences

Internet gaming is becoming increasingly popular; however, children and adolescents are highly vulnerable to gaming disorder due to the underdevelopment of cognitive control. Longitudinal research providing empirical evidence confirming the stability and direction of the association between self-control and gaming disorder is scarce. This study is...

Young adults are at high risk of experiencing economic abuse—a form of intimate partner violence (IPV)—and Chinese young adults in non-marital cohabitation are especially vulnerable. To reduce economic abuse, an important question to answer is: What factors are associated with economic abuse? After controlling for constructs (e.g., demographic info...

Objective We investigated how parental financial socialization was related to Hong Kong young adults' financial behaviors and well‐being amid COVID‐19. Background We extended existing literature by including two types of financial behaviors: healthy money management (e.g., spending within budget) and financial enabling (i.e., overgiving and sharin...

Using three-annual-wave, dyadic data from different-gender, dual-earner couples in the United States (N = 904 couples), we delineated associations between work-family conflict and housework division for husbands and wives across COVID-19 and tested the moderating role of each spouse’s traditional gender attitudes in these associations. We used the...

Objective The goal of this work was to examine the potential implications of mothers' work‐to‐family conflict (WFC) for their sensitivity and provision of learning opportunities in parenting from infancy through middle childhood, with maternal depressive symptoms tested as a possible mediator. Background To inform practice more effectively, resear...

The potential mediating role of career-related parenting practice in the association between parental career expectation and adolescents’ career development remains understudied, especially the likely transactional dynamics inherent within such links. This study utilized three-annual-wave data from 3,196 Chinese adolescents across the high school y...

Drawing on the family stress process model and using data from 141 same-sex couples (N = 282 partners), we examined associations between heterosexist discrimination and relational sacrifices (i.e., willingness and behaviors). We also examined the moderating roles of both partners' internalized homophobia and state-level liberalism on same-sex marri...

Guided by an intersectional feminism framework, we used three-wave, dyadic survey data from a nationally representative sample of 1625 U.S. different-gender newlywed couples to test three research questions. First, as balanced power is considered a key concept for relational well-being in feminism, we examined developmental trajectories in husbands...

Suicide is the leading cause of death among young people worldwide. Few studies examined the factors of childhood suicidality and compared them with adolescent suicidality to meet their age-specific needs. We examined the similarities and differences in risk and protective factors of children and adolescent suicidality in Hong Kong. A school-based...

Objectives We included two sacrifice constructs to reflect the awareness and (in)equity of behavioral sacrifice in same‐sex relationships: (a) the receiver's awareness (whether the receiver under‐, over‐, or unbiasedly estimated the other's frequency of sacrifice behaviors) and (b) the provider's perceived (in)equity (whether the provider perceived...

Marriage is embedded in the web of spouses' broader social ties, and relationship quality with parents and parents‐in‐law is associated with marital quality. Guided by Family Systems theory and using three waves of dyadic data from 268 Chinese different‐sex couples across the first several years of marriage, we first conducted a Random‐Intercept Ac...

We examined whether shared leisure offers protection against negative associations between financial distress and relationship quality (satisfaction and commitment) for lower‐ and higher‐income couples. We expected husbands' and wives' reports of shared leisure would be protective of the effects of financial distress (Time 2) on relationship satisf...

Emerging adult newlywed couples often experience many demands on their time, and three common problems may surface as couples try to balance these demands—problems related to finances, sleep, and sex. We used two waves of dyadic data from 1,001 emerging adult newlywed couples to identify four dyadic latent profiles from husbands’ and wives’ financi...

Research Findings: Preschool teachers’ relationships with children are a critical component of classroom quality. We draw from a sample of N = 2,114 children attending Head Start to examine child-centered profiles of experiences across two dimensions of classroom interaction quality that are often considered separately: individual teacher–child clo...

Utilizing a sample of 4182 U.S. emerging adults and structural equation modeling, we examined how parent financial socialization received during childhood and adolescence is associated with mental health in emerging adulthood and whether locus of control is an intervening variable. Financial socialization was negatively associated with anxiety and...

Accumulating evidence has been found for the associations from sexual minority stressors to intimate partner violence (IPV) among same-sex couples. Yet key gaps still exist, including the rare utilization of couple dyadic data, the understudied moderating and mediating mechanisms, and the few studies conducted during the transitional period of same...

Finances, and how couples manage their finances, can have important implications for couples’ relational well-being. Using data from 1,585 couples that participated in the CREATE study (a nationally representative dyadic dataset of US newlywed couples), we examined how perceiving one’s spouse as a financial spender (ie, spending more than they idea...

Drawing from the stress resistance process within the conservation of resources theory, this study examined how resources at multiple ecological levels—personal (self-esteem), relational (spousal support), and social network (relationships with parents and parents-in-law)—moderate the spillover and crossover effects from external stressors to traje...

Guided by attachment theory and the Vulnerability-Stress-Adaptation model, we used three-annual-wave, dyadic data from a nationally representative sample of 1136 young-adult newlywed couples to investigate two research aims. First, we conducted a Latent Profile Analysis to identify couple-level attachment styles at Time 1 (i.e., within the first 2...

Profound environmental changes will affect vast human populations, if not pose an existential threat to humanity, raising the question how individuals will adapt psychologically to address these changes and how they manage stress and anxiety in the face of chronic threats such as climate change. We propose that ecological coping (efforts to manage...

The aim of the study is to investigate how 2,084 U.S. college-educated young adults (61.9% female, and 69.5% non-Hispanic White) navigated the goal attainment process during the transition to adulthood. Using four-wave data collected across eight years, we examined how financial behaviors (self-regulating behaviors) predicted both depressive sympto...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.619255.].

We examined the relations between tripartite commitment—personal (want to stay in relationship), moral (ought to stay in relationship; internal constraints) and structural (have to stay in relationship; external constraints)—and various constructs of relationship quality (i.e., conflict, ambivalence, maintenance, and satisfaction) in a sample of 71...

Following from an adapted family stress model (FSM), we used two-wave, secondary data from the Building Strong Families project, focusing on 4,424 primarily lower-income, unmarried couples expecting their first child together. We used cross-lagged analyses to test the directionality of the associations among financial difficulties, depressive sympt...

We explore physiological linkage (i.e., covariation of physiological channels between interacting partners; PL) among 34 same-sex male couples. Interbeat interval, an indicator of cardiovascular arousal, was collected across four conversational contexts in the lab: (1) a baseline period that did not involve conversation, (2) a conversation about bo...

During the past decade, research on the link between childhood emotional maltreatment and adulthood romantic relationship well-being has been accumulating, but there still lacks a systematic, quantitative evaluation of existing research. This three-level, meta-analysis aimed to fill this gap. Reports were included if they examined the link between...

Guided by the Vulnerability-Adaption-Stress model (Karney and Bradbury 1995), we used data from 635 college-educated young adults to examine associations between romantic attachment orientations (i.e., attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance) and young adults’ life outcomes (i.e., financial satisfaction, life satisfaction, and relationship sati...

Background Emerging adulthood is a life stage with elevated risk for both mental disorders and financial distress. Although a positive link between financial stress and depressive symptoms has been identified, there is a lack of delineation on the temporal dynamics of this link spanning the entire stage of emerging adulthood (roughly ages 18 to 29)...

Traditional gender ideology, which refers to individuals’ expectations for the gendered segregation between work and family responsibilities, is a well-documented predictor for marital quality. Using three annual-wave, dyadic data from 240 Chinese dual-earner heterosexual couples surveyed during the early years of their marriage, we (a) examined ho...

An emerging (yet still scant) body of research has linked interparental hostility to youth compromised social competence over time among adolescents. Moreover, little is known about the conditions under which and the processes through which this association might occur. Using prospective data from 878 youth (50.23% females) and their parents and te...

Guided by the dynamic-transaction model of health, the current study investigated how the interplay between self-esteem and marital instability affects future depressive symptoms. Based on longitudinal data, the present study demonstrated that higher self-esteem was associated with lower marital instability, thus decreasing the likelihood of depres...

The FAAR model (Patterson in Fam Syst Med 6(2):202–237, 1988) posits that following a stressor, demands, capabilities, and meanings can contribute to bonadaptation (i.e., adaptation that promotes wellbeing). The purpose of the current study is to test how financial and relational demands, capabilities, and meanings are associated with relationship...

Childhood maltreatment has been extensively linked to adult psychopathology, but the specificity and heterogeneity within this association remains inadequately understood. Research with non-Western samples also remains sparse. Using data from Chinese male adult drug users (N = 239) and utilizing both variable-centered and person-centered approaches...

Guided by family systems theory, we focused on families where young children have experienced paternal incarceration (n = 775 families). We examined how characteristics of mothers and fathers at two levels of the family system–individual (i.e., depression) and relational (i.e., support/affection, constructive conflict, destructive conflict, and cop...

To examine how couple interactions shape changes in marital affection during the early years of marriage, we used two-wave, dyadic data from 268 Chinese couples and integrated variable-centered (i.e., the actor-partner interdependence model; APIM) and person-centered analytic approaches (i.e., the latent profile analysis; LPA). Employing variable-c...

Based on a geographically and socioeconomically diverse sample of 144 same-sex couples and using a dyadic approach (i.e., the Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediation Model [APIMeM] with interchangeable dyads), this study examined the association between internalized homophobia and same-sex relationship quality, and also tested the potential mediati...

Using mediating analyses with Latent Change Scores (N = 208), we examined (Aim 1) associations from financial behaviors of emerging adults and romantic partners to adult identity (i.e., feeling like an adult; being recognized by others as adult; obtaining adult status), and (Aim 2) the mediating roles of depressive symptoms and relationship satisfa...

Guided by family systems theory and using 2-wave data from 4,843 low-income, unmarried couples in the Building Strong Families study, we examined paths from paternal and maternal pregnancy intentions to family functioning in personal, relationship, and coparenting domains. Using 3-step Latent Class Analysis, we first identified 3 subgroups of coupl...

Drawing upon the multifaceted construct of motivation and engagement, this study used the adapted Motivation and Engagement Scale for University/College Students (MES-UC) (Martin, 2007, 2008b, 2012) to examine English-majored undergraduate students’ motivation and engagement in Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) writing classes. A sample o...

Using latent profile analyses and based on two‐wave data from 5,388 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 15.79, SD = 0.66; 51.99% females), this study examined the variety of ways in which adolescents’ perceived career‐related parental processes (i.e., parental expectations, support, interference, barriers to engagement, and parent–child congruence) may be...

Objective This study seeks to understand the ways in which spouses’ gender‐related attitudes are configured within couples and how such configurations are linked to marital satisfaction in Chinese marriage. Method Latent profile analysis was conducted using dyadic data from a nationwide large sample of Chinese couples from the China Family Panel S...

Based on the Vulnerability Stress Adaptation model, this study examined the relationship between forgiveness and marital stability, and provides a first look at the mediating role of marital quality in this association during the first 3 years of marriage based on three annual waves of data collected from 268 Chinese couples. Tests of actor–partner...

Although affiliation with deviant peers is among the most salient risk factors for college students’ maladjustment, few studies have examined the possible peer contagion processes for problematic Internet use and the underlying mechanisms explaining how peer factors may shape the development of problematic Internet use. Based on data from 2516 Chin...

We examined the mediating roles of communication and marital affect in the association between marital quality and neuroticism. Guided by the social investment theory and the personality-relationship transactions model, we tested the actor-partner interdependence mediation model to examine the associations among the variables. Participants were 268...

Based on three annual waves of data obtained from 268 Chinese couples in the early years of marriage and using a three-wave, cross-lagged approach, the present study examined the associations among daily marital communication, marital conflict resolution, and marital quality. Results indicated unidirectional associations linking daily marital commu...

Sexuality is an integral component of many intimate relationships, and research has consistently demonstrated a positive association between sexual and marital satisfaction. However, the temporal dynamics of this association remain controversial and understudied with rigorous longitudinal dyadic approaches, and empirical efforts examining this asso...

Internet addiction has been typically conceptualized as either a continuous construct or a dichotomous construct. Limited research has differentiated adolescents with problematic Internet use (PIU) from the Internet addiction group (IA) and/or nonproblematic Internet use group (NPIU) and examined the potential correlates. To fill this gap, based on...

Based on three annual waves of data obtained from 194 Chinese couples during the first few years of marriage, this study examined how couples’ marital conflict resolution styles might change over time and also the association between such patterns of changes and the developmental trajectories of marital quality. Using latent transition analysis, at...

There is an emerging body of research focusing on the positive and negative effects of sacrifice on relationship quality, but few of them have investigated the effects of the inequity of sacrifice. In the light of social exchange theory and equity theory, this study examines the roles inequity of sacrifice plays in marital satisfaction in China. Ba...