PhD - Developmental Psychology
McMaster University - 2017
Alva Tang
Assistant Professor - Department of Psychology
Research Interests: Developmental changes in social-emotional development; Individual differences and social-contextual factors; Mental and physical health
Professional Preparation
BSc - Psychology
University of Toronto - 2012
University of Toronto - 2012
Research Areas
My research focuses on understanding how individual differences in social and emotional development shape mental health. The current studies investigate how children's and adolescents’ social and affective processing (e.g., learning of social feedback from peers and friends, affective content on social media platforms) contribute to internalizing symptoms like anxiety and depression. To do this work, we use multiple neural and behavioral measures (e.g., EEG, lab observations, daily diaries) in experimental and observational studies (e.g., paradigm with social interactions, tracking sites on phones). Our past work has also focused on temperament (e.g., shyness) and exposures to early adversities (e.g. child maltreatment and neglect).The overall aim of our work aims to identify neural, biological, and social processes (e.g., neural correlates in processing social-affective information, friendships, behaviors) that alter risk and resilient trajectories to enhance our understanding of developmental risk factors and ability to implement prevention strategies.
Publications
Wade, M., Parker, V., Tang, A., Fox, N.A., Zeanah, C.H., & Nelson, C.A. (2024). Linking caregiving quality during infancy to brain activity in early childhood and later executive function. Developmental Science. DOI: 10.1111/desc.13517 - publications
Tan, E., Tang, A., Debnath, R., Humphreys, K., Zeanah, C.H., Nelson, C.A., & Fox, N.A. (2023). Resting brain activity in early childhood predicts IQ at 18 years. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 63, 101287. - publications
Tang, A., Ertel, K., Keen, R., Beyer, L., Eckert, N., Mita, C., Pintro, K., Ozukono, S., Yazawa, A., & Slopen, N. (2023). Parent-child separation and cardiometabolic outcomes and risk factors in adulthood: A systematic review. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 152, 106084. - publications
Kim, H. H., +Keen, R., Tang, A., Denckla, C., & Slopen, N. (2023). Longitudinal patterns of childhood homelessness and early adolescent trajectories of internalizing and externalizing behavior. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 77(4), 216-223. - publications
Tang, A., Harrewijn, A., Benson, B., Haller, S.P., Guyer, A.E., Perez-Edgar, K., Stringaris, A., Ernst, M., Brotman, M.A., Pine, D.S., & Fox, N.A. (2022). Striatal activity to reward anticipation as a moderator of the relation between early behavioral inhibition and changes in anxiety and depressive symptoms from adolescence to adulthood. JAMA Psychiatry, 79(12), 1199-1208. - publications
Zeytinoglu, S., Tang, A., Zeanah, C.H., Nelson, C.A., Almas, A., & Fox, N.A. (2022). Effects of foster care intervention and caregiving quality on the bidirectional development of executive functions and social skills following institutional rearing. Developmental Science, e13309.
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- publications
Bas-Hoogendam, J., 50+ Contributors from individual sites, & Pine, D.S. (In press). Structural brain correlates of childhood inhibited temperament: An ENIGMA-Anxiety mega-analysis. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
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- publications
Tang, A., Fox, N.A., Slopen, N. (2022). Examination of early childhood temperament of shyness and social avoidance and associations with cardiometabolic health in young adulthood. JAMA Network Open, 5(1), e2144727-e2144727.
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- publications
Appointments
Assistant Professor
University of Texas at Dallas [2022–Present]
University of Texas at Dallas [2022–Present]
Post Doctoral Fellow
University of Maryland [2017–2022]
University of Maryland [2017–2022]
Adjunct Instructor
Catholic University of America [2021–2022]
Catholic University of America [2021–2022]