Associate Professor, Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
Faculty Affiliate, Center for Health Administration Studies
The University of Chicago
Miwa Yasui’s areas of interest include cultural influences on developmental and familial processes such as ethnic identity development and ethnic-racial socialization, the examination of the culturally responsive assessments and interventions for ethnically diverse children and youth, intervention and prevention of problem behaviors among youth, and observational methodology.
Her research focuses on the influence of culture on development and family process in relation to psychopathology and mental health intervention. In particular, her research examines how multilevel cultural influences enhance or ameliorate the relationship between family processes and child psychopathology, especially among ethnic minority families. Her work applies the use of observational methods combined with surveys to study culturally specific developmental and familial socialization processes that are central to the adaptive development of ethnic minority children and youth.
Yasui's work also examines cultural, contextual and familial factors that contribute to mental health disparities among immigrant and ethnic minority populations. In particular, she is studying the role of treatment engagement in racial and ethnic disparities among immigrant families. Her current project explores culturally specific pathways that may address underlying barriers to mental health service utilization and engagement among immigrant populations. Her research lab will continue both basic and intervention research that examines culturally specific influences on adaptive development among ethnic minority children and youth.
Yasui is also a licensed Clinical Psychologist and has been actively engaged in clinical practice during her predoctoral and postdoctoral training. She received her undergraduate degrees in Comparative Culture from Sophia University in Tokyo and in Psychology at the University of Oregon, and a PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of Oregon.