Jacqueline Nguyen, PhD

Associate Professor, Educational Psychology
Department Chair, Educational Psychology

Jacqueline Nguyen is an associate professor in the Cognitive and Developmental Sciences program in the Department of Educational Psychology. Her scholarly pursuits examine how normative developmental processes across the lifespan are informed by sociocultural contexts. She specifically focuses on ethnic and cultural identity and parent-child relationships, largely in adolescence and early adulthood. The ultimate aim of this work is to expand mainstream narratives in developmental psychology to include the developmental experiences of individuals from immigrant, refugee, and ethnic minority backgrounds.

Dr. Nguyen has experience in qualitative, mixed-methods, and community-embedded research, having worked with community organizations in Madison and Philadelphia to conduct studies on Hmong and Latino immigrant families. She also has experience conducting program evaluations for non-profit community organizations. She has published in the Journal of Research on Adolescence, New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, and Hmong Studies Journal.

Dr. Nguyen received her doctorate in Educational Psychology (Human Development) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was a National Science Foundation SBE Minority Postdoctoral Fellow (Saint Joseph’s University’s Child Development Laboratory).

Current Research/Projects

Me, My Choices & Why? Hip Hop and Cultural Identity in Southeast Asian Youth and Emerging Adults
STICS: Social Transitions in College Study
Culture of Facebook
To learn more about Dr. Nguyen's Cultures & Contexts Research Group, please visit https://sites.google.com/site/nguyenresearchuwm/

Selected Publications

Nguyen, J., & Ferguson, G. M. (2019). “I Kind of Have a Goal When I Do It”: The Phenomenology of Cultural Variability in Southeast Asian American Tricultural Emerging Adults. Emerging Adulthood, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167696819860392

Nguyen, J. & Ferguson, G.M. (2019). A global cypher: The role of hip hop in cultural identity construction and navigation for Southeast Asian American youth. In J. McKenzie (Ed.), Globalization as a Context for Youth Development. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 164, 99–115.

Ferguson, G. M., Nguyen, J.*, Iturbide, M. (2016). Playing up and playing down cultural identity: Introducing cultural influence and cultural variability. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 23(1), 109-124. (*Note: first and second author determined alphabetically)

Nguyen, J. (2013). Of Pride and Pencils: Deconstructing the Role of Ethnic Pride in Hmong Adolescent Identity Formation. Hmong Studies Journal, 14, 1-19.

Nguyen, J., Hernández, M. G., Saetermoe, C. L., & Suárez-Orozco, C. (2013). An ethical frame for research with immigrant families. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 141, 1-7.

Curriculum Vitae (PDF)