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Growing up in rural coastal China (Shantou, Guangdong), two surprising events were my childhood glee: family reunions when my father made surprise visits from his city job, and approaching typhoons that promised school cancellations, which could happen more than once during tropical cyclone seasons. While typhoons brought real challenges to our community, as a kid I welcomed the break from routine. Little did I know these childhood experiences – one rooted in family dynamics, the other in environmental forces – would profoundly shape my future research interests. Today, my work explores the intersection of family structures, human development, and environmental changes, seeking to understand how these factors impact children's lives and education in low- and middle-income countries.
Early Childhood and Human Development
Early Childhood and Human Development
This area focuses on the critical early years of child development and their long-term impacts. My research examines how early life experiences, including parental migration and nutritional status, shape cognitive and physical development outcomes. Key papers in this area include:
Yang, X. S. "Parental Labor Migration and Early Childhood Development in China." in Demography. (Accepted)
*Best graduate student paper, Department of Sociology at Penn, 2025
*Honorable mention, ASA Asian and Asian American Section Graduate Student Paper Award, 2024
*Honorable mention, International Chinese Sociological Association Nan Lin Best Graduate Student Paper, 2022
Yang, X. S. "Early Childhood Growth Trajectories and Adolescent Cognitive Achievement: The Role of Catch-up." in Chinese Sociological Review (2024): 1-26.
Environmental Inequality and Child Development
Environmental Inequality and Child Development
Building on my early childhood research, this area explores how environmental factors, particularly climate change and air pollution, affect children's educational outcomes and health. Key papers:
Yang, X. S., & Feng, K. "Mapping the Impacts of Climate Change on Children's Education in the Global South." (Expected to submit soon)
* Featured in the UNESCO paper for 2023 UN Climate Conference, COP 28, United Arab Emirates
* Featured in the World Education Blog.
Yang, X. S., Wang, F., Hannum, E., & Behrman, J.R. "Breathing Inequality: Inequalities in Air-Pollution Exposure Among Sociodemographic Groups, An Application for South China." (Expected to submit soon)
Cross-National Analysis of Environmental and Sustainablility Education (ESE)
Cross-National Analysis of Environmental and Sustainablility Education (ESE)
Building on my earlier work examining how climate change impacts children's education, a key part of my dissertation investigates the reciprocal relationship: how primary and secondary education can address climate change and foster climate literacy. Linking data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 and a unique UNESCO-MECCE national curriculum policy dataset, this project employs multilevel modeling and AI-based content analysis to address three key questions:
What shapes the inclusion and breadth of ESE content in national curricula across 161 countries?
What factors contribute to the policy-practice decoupling between ESE policies and school-level implementation in different settings?
How do different levels and breadths of ESE content inclusion influence students' pro-environmental identity formation in various settings?
You can access a flyer for my dissertation presented at the International Conference on Computational Social Science (IC2S2) here.
Occupational Mobility and Labor Market Dynamics
Occupational Mobility and Labor Market Dynamics
This research area explores historical and contemporary patterns of occupational change and worker mobility in the United States, connecting to broader themes of social stratification and inequality. Key papers:
Song, X., Brand, J., Yang, X. S., & Lachanski, M. "Structural Mobility Revisited: Occupational Restructuring and Worker Mobility in the United States" (Under review)
Jacobs, J., Yang, X. S., & Song, X. "The Long Expansion and Decline of Blacksmiths: New Evidence from Linked US Decennial Censuses." (Under review)
Big Data Applications in Social Science Research
Big Data Applications in Social Science Research
This category encompasses studies utilizing large-scale datasets from social media and mobile phone data to investigate social phenomena. It connects to my other research areas by providing innovative methodologies for studying environmental impacts, education, and social behavior. Key papers:
Knake, K.T., Chen, Z., Yang, X. S., & Tait, J. (2021). "Pinterest Curation and Student Achievement: The Effects of Elementary Mathematics Resources on Students' Learning over Time." The Elementary School Journal, 122(1), 57-85.
Yang, X. S. "Chemical Spills and Environmental Anxiety on Social Media: Linking Twitter Data with National Surveys, 2010-2023." (In preparation)
Weng, G., Yang, X. S., Chen, C., Cui, S., Chen, Z., & Zhu, Y. "Climate Disaster-Induced Population Mobility: Analysis of Large-Scale Mobile Phone Data in India, 2019." (In preparation)
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