Susan S. Chuang

Details on Research Interests

Dr. Susan Chuang is a Full Professor at the University of Guelph, Ontario. She received her baccalaureate in Criminology and Sociology at the University of Toronto, St. George Campus. At the University of Rochester, New York, she received a Masters of Science in Elementary Education, and a Masters of Science and Doctorate in Human Development. After graduation, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Maryland, U.S.

Dr. Chuang's first line of research includes parenting, fathering, parent-child relationships, child and adolescent development, and school readiness in various sociocultural contexts (e.g., cross-cultural work on Chinese families in Canada, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan; Latina/o families in Paraguay, US; Black families in Jamaica; Brazilian families). Some of the studies have been supported by SSHRC. Areas of exploration include parenting practices and beliefs, parental conflicts on childcare activities, mothers' and fathers' roles and responsibilities in the family, parental views on children's independence and personal freedom, and parent-child relationships.  

A second line of research focuses on youths' and parents' views on cannabis use and the impact on familial dynamics and relationships (two externally funded projects: Canadian Home Economics Foundation and SSHRC). The project is to explore how cannabis use is understood among Chinese-Canadian communities with respect to attitudes, beliefs, and social stigma, motivations for use, and how parents and youth are talking about (or not) cannabis (SSHRC: 2021 - 2025).  

A  more recent line of research explores intimate partner violence against men, false allegations, child custody and access, high conflict relationships, parental alienation, and their impact on individual and family well-being. One project is working with the Canadian Centre for Men and Families, York Region to examine men's experiences with intimate partner violence as fathers and how gender, ethnicity, and SES may complicate surviving men's experiences. Surviving fathers' willingness to disclose, seek help and support are some of the topics that are being explored (SSHRC-funded). 

Along similar lines, Dr. Chuang, in collaboration with two family lawyers, are investigating father involvement pre- and post-union breakdowns, how fathers make meaning of their relationship breakdown in terms of child custody and access. Situations of high conflict, false allegations, and parental alienating behaviours will also be explored (SSHRC-funded). 

As lead organizer, she is working with several colleagues from four Provinces (AB, BC, QC, ON) to host the International Interdisciplinary Conference on Fatherhood and Men's Experiences with Violence and Victimization this September 2022 in downtown Toronto. Scholars, community organizations, practitioners from over 10 countries and regions will be presenting their work (SSHRC funded).

Another conference that she is currently organizing is the 7th On New Shores conference on immigrant families. The Ethnic Minority and Immigrant Families in Global Contexts: Moving Forward conference will be held this October 2022 at the University of Guelph. 

She is currently a co-author on the Canadianized version of the Essentials of Lifespan Development with McGraw-Hill Education. It is expected to be published in February 2023. Also with McGraw-Hill Education, she is authoring (as first author ) a Child Development textbook with the expected publication date of 2025. 

Dr. Chuang is the Series Editor for Springer on the Advances on Immigrant Family Research. She has edited four books for the series (three as lead editor), as well as other edited books for Lexington Books. She is the Associate Editor for the Journal of Family Psychology and the Journal of Adolescent Research. She provides numerous community workshops for parents with children of various ages, as well as workshops for school-aged children, youth, and emerging adults. She also conducts workshops for service providers and teachers. Workshops are at no cost. The primary goal of the workshops is to bring greater attention to mental health issues. She has organized six international conferences, On New Shores conferences, on immigrant families which has attracted leading scholars from various disciplines as well as non-academic delegates (e.g., community and governmental agencies) from around the world.