PhD student in Educational and Developmental Psychology

 

Jiayin is a fourth-year PhD in educational and developmental psychology based in INSTRUCT lab (Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge), researching children's cognitive and social-emotional development and teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She held an MPhil degree in Education at the University of Cambridge. Experienced in cognitive psychology experiments, advanced statistical models (e.g., reliability test, regression, factor analysis, structural equation modelling, mixture modelling), and programming languages (e.g., R, Mplus).

 

Email: jz496@cam.ac.uk

 

 

Research

  • Researcher (2021-present) in Ready-or-Not study (a cross-cultural study focusing on children's school readiness and contextual correlates in family and school), based in Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge. 
  • Research assistant (Feb 2023-May 2023) based in PEDAL group, University of Cambridge.

Research dissemination

Publication
  • Zheng, J., & Chen, B.-B. (2025). Parent-Adolescent Discrepancies in Perceiving Parental Psychological Control and Autonomy Support Predict Adolescents’ Psychological Adjustment: Does Adolescent Gender Make a Difference? Journal of Youth and Adolescence. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-025-02144-5.
  • Zheng, J. & Ren, L. Co-parenting and parental involvement in Chinese families: Parenting competence as a mediator (under review). Submitted to Family Relations.
  • Zheng, J., Xu, C., Chen, L. L., Wu, Z., Ögel-Balaban, H., Ellefson, M. R., & Hughes, C. A multi-informant, multi-method investigation into associations between socioeconomic status, executive function, and school readiness in China (under review). Submitted to Early Childhood Research Quarterly.
  • Zheng, J., Ren, L., & Fan, J. The role of co-parenting in preschoolers’ school readiness and an exploration of the underlying mechanisms (under review). Intend to submit to Early Childhood Research Quarterly.
  • Xu, C., Foley, S., Zheng, J., Wu, Z., Ellefson, M. R., & Hughes, C. Mindedness provide a buffer for socially and economically disadvantaged Chinese preadolescent children (under review)? Submitted to Journal of Family Psychology.
  • Chen, L. L., Heng, A. A., Xu, C., Ellefson, M. R., Edwards, M., D’Souza, H., Fink, E., Jess, M., Gray, L., Dempsey, C., Mehrotra, M., Wong S. C., Wu, C., Huang, B., Zheng, J., Wu, Z., Devine, R. T., & Hughes, C. Links between child executive functions and adjustment: a three-site study (under review). Submitted to Child Development.

Conference
  • Zheng, J., Xu, C., Chen, L. L., Wu, Z., Ögel-Balaban, H., Ellefson, M. R., & Hughes, C. (2024 September). Can we depict a comprehensive picture of children’s school readiness? The application of person-centred approach with a Chinese sample. [Paper presentation]. The British Psychology Society – Psychology of Education Section 2024, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
  • Zheng, J., Xu, C., Chen, L. L., Ellefson, M. R., & Hughes, C. (2024 June). How does parent-teacher-child dynamic contribute to Chinese children’s school readiness? A multi-informant multi-method investigation. [Symposium presentation]. The International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development 2024, Lisbon, Portugal.
  • Zheng, J., Xu, C., Ellefson, M. R., & Hughes, C. (2023 August-September). Teaching beyond knowledge: How teachers influence Chinese children’s executive function in preschools. [Paper presentation]. The European Conference on Developmental Psychology 2023, Turku, Finland.
  • Xu, C., Zheng, J., Wu, Z., & Hughes, C. (2023 August-September). Evaluating associations between parental mind-mindedness and children’s developmental capacities in mainland China. [Paper presentation]. The European Conference on Developmental Psychology 2023, Turku, Finland.
  • Tsigaridis, K. G., Wang, R., Zheng, J., & Ellefson, M. R. (2023, August 22-26). Do science and non-science students similarly use executive function skills in maths and physics? [Conference talk]. The 20th Biennial European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI) Conference, Thessaloniki, Greece.

Teaching

  • Undergraduate supervisor

Psychology | Natural Sciences Tripos (BPS-accredited programme) & Education Tripos

- First-Year & Second-Year essay supervision (more than 30 students):

Module PBS3 - Social and Developmental Psychology

Module PBS6 - Advanced Topics in Developmental Psychology

Module PBS8 - Psychology about the Family

- Final-Year dissertation supervision