Research Interests
My research focuses on how parenting and child development are situated within and impacted by sociocultural and contextual factors. How does culture shape parenting experiences and influence children’s self, gender, and emotional development? In one line of research, I examine parental beliefs and childrearing practices. For example, I have examined cultural and intergenerational variation in Taiwanese and American caregivers’ beliefs about self-esteem. In another line of research, I examine how family narratives and personal storytelling impart cultural meanings, socializing children into “culturally-appropriate” and “gender-appropriate” ways of being.
Publications
Cho, G. E., & Miller, P. J. (forthcoming). Self-esteem. In R. Shweder, T. Bidell, A. Dailey, S. Dixon, P. Miller & J. Modell (Eds.), The Chicago Companion to the Child. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Sandel, T., Cho, G. E., Miller, P. J., & Wang, S. (in press). What is means to be a grandmother: A cross-cultural study of Taiwanese and European American grandmothers. Journal of Family Communication.
Cho, G. E., Miller, P. J., Sandel, T., & Wang, S. (2005). What do grandmothers think about self-esteem? American and Taiwanese folk theories revisited. Social Development, 14, 701-721.
Miller, P. J., Cho, G. E., & Bracey, J. R. (2005a). Working-class children’s experience through the prism of personal storytelling. Human Development, 48, 115-135.
Miller, P. J., Cho, G. E., & Bracey, J. R. (2005b). Expanding the angle of vision on working-class children’s stories. Human Development, 48, 151-154.
Cho, G. E., & Miller, P. J. (2004). Personal storytelling: Working-class and middle-class in comparative perspective. In M. Farr (Ed.), Ethnolinguistic Chicago: Language and literacy in the City’s neighborhoods (pp. 79-101). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Miller, P. J., Wang, S., Sandel, T., & Cho, G. E. (2002). Self-esteem as folk theory: A comparison of ethnographic interviews. Parenting: Science and Practice, 2, 209-239.
In Preparation
Cho, G. E., Agathen, J. M., Miller, P. J., & Mangelsdorf, S. C. (in preparation). Mother-child personal storytelling: A contextual perspective on gender socialization.
Cho, G. E. (in preparation). Dynamic parenting: A study of mothers’ and fathers’ changing beliefs about childrearing.
Cho, G. E. (in preparation). What do parents worry about? The role of gender in parents’ affective experiences.
Miller, P. J., Cho, G. E., & Bracey, J. R. (in preparation). Practicing self-enhancement: How the need for positive self-regard gets engendered.
Conference Presentations
Cho, G. E., & Miller, P. J. (2006, August). Worry or not: Affective experiences in parenting. Paper presented in the symposium Parental Socialization of Emotions (Co-Chairs: Amy Halberstadt and Julie Dunsmore) at the annual meeting of the International Society for Research on Emotions, Atlanta, GA.
Cho, G. E., & Miller, P. J. (2006, April). Parenting worries: Does gender matter? Poster presented at the 2nd Gender Development Research Conference, San Francisco, CA.
Sandel, T., Cho, G. E., Miller, P. J., & Wang, S. H. (2005, May). A cross-cultural study of grandmothers and their role among families in Taiwan and the United States. Paper presented in the symposium Top Three Papers in Language and Social Interaction (Chair: Francois Cooren) at the 55th Annual Convention of the International Communication Association, New York, NY. Winner of a Top Paper Award in the Language and Social Interaction Division.
Cho, G. E., Agathen, J. M., Miller, P. J., & Mangelsdorf, S. C. (2005, April). Mother-child personal storytelling: A contextual perspective on gender socialization. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Atlanta, GA.
Cho, G. E., Bracey, J. R., & Miller, P. J. (2005, April). Mothers’ and fathers’ beliefs about childrearing and self-esteem. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Atlanta, GA.
Cho, G. E., Sandel, T., Miller, P. J., & Wang, S. (2004, April). What do grandmothers think about self-esteem? American and Taiwanese folk theories revisited. Poster presented at the biennial Conference on Human Development, Washington, D. C.
Cho, G. E., & Pomerantz, E. M. (2003, April). The implications of children’s goal investment for their anxiety symptoms: The role of maternal control. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Tampa, FL.
Bracey, J. R., Cho, G. E., & Miller, P. J. (2003, April). African American parents’ folk theories of self-esteem. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Tampa, FL.
Cho, G. E., & Miller, P. J. (2002, May). Sociocultural variation in personal storytelling: An investigation of mothers’ emotion talk. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.
Cho, G. E., & Miller, P. J. (2002, April). Mothers’ use of emotion talk in personal storytelling: A comparison of working-class and middle-class families. Poster presented at the biennial Conference on Human Development, Charlotte, NC.
Miller, P. J., Wang, S., Sandel, T., & Cho, G. E. (2001, November). Self-esteem as folk theory: An analysis of interviews as communicative events. Paper presented in the symposium Top papers in Language and Social Interaction (Chair: Richard Buttny) at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, Atlanta, GA. Winner of a Top Paper Award in the Language and Social Interaction Division.
Cho, G. E. (2001, April). Storytelling in working-class and middle-class families: A comparison of mothers’ folk theories and cultural practices. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Minneapolis, MN.
Miller, P. J., Wang, S., Sandel, T., & Cho, G. E. (2001, April). The meanings and discourses of self-esteem: Parental folk theories of childrearing in Taiwan and the U.S. Paper presented in the symposium Parental folk theories of self-esteem: Variability within and across cultures (Chair: Peggy J. Miller) at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Minneapolis, MN.
Anderson, K., Cho, G., O' Shea, K., Tennenbaum, H., & Leaper, C. (1998, March). Gender and emotion schemas among Latina and Latino youth. Poster presented at the Society for Research on Adolescence, San Diego, CA.
Cho, G., & Leaper, C. (1997, April). Young adults' gender self-concepts and perceptions of their own emotional experiences. Poster presented at the annual Western Psychology Conference, Santa Clara, CA.
Contact Information
Department of Psychology
281 McCardell Bicentennial Hall
Middlebury College
Middlebury, VT 05753
(802) 443-5491
gcho@middlebury.edu