Yejin Park (’25)

Yejin Park is a senior majoring in Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State. Yejin arrived at Penn State with prior experience working with elementary school students. She also worked in a psychiatric hospital, where she encountered individuals who had faced childhood adversities. Realizing the long-term impact of early childhood experiences, she became interested in understanding how family and parental support can serve as a protective factor for children's mental health and well-being.

Yejin is an undergraduate research assistant in the Development, Risk, and Resilience (DRR) Lab with Dr. Rina D. Eiden. In the lab, she works as a recruiter on the Strong Family Foundations clinical intervention project, which examines intervention effects on father’s heavy drinking and co-parenting, and in turn, how the intervention influences the relationship between parenting and child outcomes. She further aides the lab’s efforts through her role as a behavioral coder where she analyzes mother-child and parent-parent interactions. In addition to her lab work, Yejin conducted an independent research project that resulted in a first-authored article in the journal Acta Neuropsychiatrica titled, “Relationships Between Early Traumatic Experiences and Emotional Regulation Skills in Major Depressive and Bipolar Disorders.” In the fall of 2025, Yejin will begin a doctoral program in human development and family studies at the University of Georgia, where she will focus on research related to adverse childhood experiences and the relationship between family and parent-child interactions.

Outside of research, Yejin enjoys reading books, playing the piano, and traveling during breaks, which gives her a chance to explore new places and cultures.

The CSC wishes Yejin all the best in her future academic pursuits!