RESEARCH

As a developmental psychologist and social work scholar in training , I am dedicated to advancing behavioral and mental health equity through a research program focused on two interconnected objectives:

1. Examine how behavioral and neural mechanisms, relational processes, and sociocultural contexts shape risk and resilience in behavioral and mental health outcomes.
2. Translate this empirical evidence into theoretically grounded, empirically informed frameworks that strengthen the quality and effectiveness of social work practice.

I employ multimodal, mixed-method designs that integrate self-report measures, neuroimaging data, and qualitative interviews to generate knowledge that is both scientifically rigorous and contextually relevant, guiding empirically informed frameworks to strengthen behavioral and mental health support. I utilize a wide range of quantitative methods, including multiple regressions, structural equation modeling, network analysis, generalized additive modeling, factor analysis, latent profile analysis, and machine learning techniques, primarily using R and MPlus.

I am currently working on my doctoral dissertation, Brain Development in Context: The Shaping of Risk and Resilience Across Adolescence and Young Adulthood in Lived Social Worlds, under the guidance of my dream team committee: Daphne Watkins, PhD (Co-chair), Christopher Monk, PhD (Co-chair), Andrew Grogan-Kaylor, PhD, and Vonnie McLoyd, PhD.

The complete list of peer-reviewed publications is available here.

Selected Publications: Advancing Direct Practice

• Hong, S., Ribaudo, J. M., Safyer, P., Routte, I. E., & Watkins, D. C (2025). Advancing Psychodynamic-Based Clinical Social Work Practice to Address Structural Trauma: Integrating Neuroscience and Attachment Theory. Social Work, 70(2), 121–130. [awarded with The Henry J. Meyer Paper Award] Link

• Haider, A., Waldron E., Hong, S., Morales, A., & Burnett-Zeigler, I.(2025). Ethnoracial diversity in mindfulness-based intervention research and implementation. In K. W. Brown, D. Creswell, & R. Ryan (Eds), Handbook of Mindfulness: Theory, Research, and Practice. Guilford Press.

• Hong, S. (2024). Trauma-Informed Cultural Humility Mental Health Practice: Centering History among African American Women. Social Work, 69(1), 64-72. Link

• Herrenkohl, T. I., Hong, S., & Verbrugge, B. (2019). Trauma‐informed programs based in schools: Linking concepts to practices and assessing the evidence. American Journal of Community Psychology, 64(3-4), 373-388. Link

• Burnett-Zeigler, I., Satyshur, M. D., Hong, S., Wisner, K. L., & Moskowitz, J. (2019). Acceptability of a mindfulness intervention for depressive symptoms among African-American women in a community health center: A qualitative study. Complementary Therapies in Mediciney, 45, 19-24. Link

Selected Publications: Risk, Resilience, Brain, and Mental Health Outcomes

• Hong, S. H., Hardi, F. A., Tillem, S., Goetschius, L. G., Brooks-Gunn, J., McLoyd, V., Lopez-Duran, N. L., Mitchell, C., Hyde, L. W., & Monk, C. S. (2024). Mother-child closeness and adolescent structural neural networks: a prospective longitudinal study of low-income families. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 19(1), nsae083. Link

• #Wu, C.*, Hong, S.*, Cross, F., Sypher, I., McLoyd, V. C., Huntley, E., Hyde, L.W., Mitchell, C. & Monk, C.S. (2024). Increasing Diversity in Neuroimaging Research: Participant-Driven Recommendations from a Qualitative Study of an Under-represented Sample. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 101474. [*shared first author; #undergraduate advisee] Link

• Hong, S. H., Yu, C. L., Rousson, A. N., Bender, A. E., Fedina, L., & Herrenkohl, T. I. (2024). Examining the association between trauma characteristics and adult depression and anxiety: analysis of types, variety, repetition, and timing of past trauma. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 39(3-4), 569-586. Link

• Hong, S., Hardi, F., & Maguire-Jack, K. (2023). The moderating role of neighborhood social cohesion on the relationship between early mother-child attachment security and adolescent social skills: Brief report. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 40(1), 277-287. Link Media Coverage

• Hong, S., Satyshur, M. D., & Burnett-Zeigler, I. (2022). The association of mindfulness and depression stigma among African American women participants in a mindfulness-based intervention: A pilot study. Transcultural Psychiatry, 13634615221076709. Link

• Maguire-Jack, K., Yoon, S., & Hong, S. (2021). Social cohesion and informal social control as mediators between neighborhood poverty and child maltreatment. Child Maltreatment, 10775595211007566. Link Media Coverage

• Hong, S. & Burnett-Zeigler, I. (2017). The frequency of PTSD and subthreshold PTSD among African–American women with depressive symptoms in a disadvantaged urban neighborhood: Pilot study. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 4(6), 1069-1073. Link Media Coverage

Reseach Training

• Research Assistant, Translational & Developmental Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, (2019-Current, PI: Christopher S. Monk, Ph.D.)
  Project: Study of Adolescent to Adult Neural Development (R01MH121079, R01MH130158)

• In-House Statistician, The Gender and Health Research Lab, School of Social Work, University of Michigan (2024-Current, PI: Daphne Watkins, Ph.D.)
  Project: Young Black Men, Masculinities, and Mental Health (YBMen) Project

• Data Manager, School of Social Work, University of Michigan (2018-2025, PI: Todd I. Herrenkohl Ph.D.)
  Projects: Lehigh Longitudinal Study (R01AG059823, R21HD094961, R21HD094961), Trauma-Informed Programs & Practices for Schools (Michigan Health Endowment Fund)

• Clinical Research Coordinator, M-Body Lab, Feinberg School of Medicine Northwestern University, (2015-2018, PI: Inger Burnett-Zeigler, Ph.D.)
  Project: A Mindfulness-Based Depression Intervention for Disadvantaged Underserved Women in a FQHC (NU K12 Faculty Training Program, Greer Family Foundation)

• Undergraduate Honors Thesis Student, Affective Neuroscience & Biopsychology Lab, University of Michigan (2011-2015, PI: Kent Berridge, Ph.D.)
  Project: Cue-triggered Reward Seeking (R01DA015188)

Selected Research Awards

• Data and AI Intensive Research with Rigor and Reproducibility Program Scholarship, Michigan Institute for Data and AI in Society, University of Michigan (2025-2026)

• Pillsbury Graduate Research Award, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan (2025)

• Bobbe and Jon Bridge Award for Engaged Scholarship, Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan (2024)

• Rackham Research Grant, Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan (2024)

• Kellogg Family Fellowship in Children and Families, School of Social Work, University of Michigan (2021)

• Researching Injustice and Social Equality Award, Association for Psychological Science (2016)