COM alumna receives grant

Zhiying (Zoey) Yue, PhD, '22, has been awarded a grant from The Huo Family Foundation and it's inaugural Science Programme on the Effects of the Usage of Digital Technology on Brain Development, Social Behaviour and Mental Health in Children and Young People. Zhiying's research, Digital Play as Social Repair or Retreat: Longitudinal Insights into Gaming, Loneliness, and Parenting, examines how and when video gaming is experienced as social connection versus social withdrawal among adolescents who experience chronic or situational loneliness, and how family parenting practices may shape these patterns. The project follows 1,000 adolescents over time, combining daily diary reports, detailed gaming and screen-time data, and survey-based assessments of mental health. To capture the family climate around digital media, parents complete a baseline survey on parenting style and media-related practices. By linking these data across time, the study will identify distinct patterns of gaming (for example, solitary versus socially rich play) and family climates that are associated with changes in adolescents’ well-being, feelings of isolation, and risk for problematic or compulsive use. The findings aim to inform families, clinicians, and platforms seeking to support healthier, more socially meaningful digital play.  More information can be found on the Huo Family Foundation website.  

Since graduating, Zoey completed a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship in Digital Wellness at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School.  Now a faculty member there, we congratulate Zoey on this accomplishment!