So Young Choe, Ph.D. in Psychology

Parental psychological control (PPC)

I define PPC as a set of intrusive parenting techniques that emotionally manipulate children to obey parents (Choe & Read, 2019), including inducing guilt and shame, withdrawing love, invalidating feelings, etc. PPC has been associated with many negative developmental outcomes such as externalizing and internalizing behaviors. My research aims to untangle the mechanism through which PPC impairs healthy development of children, adolescents, and emerging adults.

Choe, SY., Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J., & Lee, K-U. (2026). Repayment expectation is associated with Korean middle school male-identified adolescents’ drinking indirectly via parental psychological control, whereas indebtedness is not. Psychological Reports. doi: 10.1177/00332941251415323

Choe, SY. & Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J. (2025). Respect based on age and parental psychological control as risk factors for drinking among Korean middle school adolescents in Seoul. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse. doi: 10.1080/15332640.2025.2591733

Choe, SY., Laursen, B., Cheah, C. S. L., Lengua, L. J., Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J., & Bagner, D. M. (2023). Intrusiveness and emotional manipulation as facets of parental psychological control: A culturally and developmentally sensitive reconceptualization. Human Development. doi: 10.1159/000530493

Choe, SY., Lee, J. O., & Read, S. J. (2022). Adolescent normative beliefs about aggression mediate the association between fathers' psychological control in adolescence and physical aggression in emerging adulthood. Social Development. doi: 10.1111/sode.12597

Choe, SY., Lee, J. O., & Read, S. J. (2021). Parental psychological control perceived in adolescence predicts jealousy toward romantic partners in emerging adulthood via insecure attachment. Social Development. doi: 10.1111/sode.12514

Choe, SY., Lee, J. O., & Read, S. J. (2020). Psychological intimate partner violence, insecure attachment, and parental psychological control from adolescence to emerging adulthood. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. doi: 10.1177/0886260520957974

Choe, SY., Lee, J. O., & Read, S. J. (2020). Self-concept as a mechanism through which parental psychological control impairs empathy development from adolescence to emerging adulthood. Social Development. doi: 10.1111/sode.12431

Choe, SY., & Read, S. J. (2019). Perceived parental psychological control has indirect effects on aggression via need satisfaction and motivation for revenge. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. doi: 10.1177/0265407518796325

Parental psychological control (PPC) and adolescents' alcohol use

Based on my NIAAA T32 training at UC Berkeley, I research how PPC predicts or is associated with adolescents' drinking. I have been publishing papers based on the data I collected from South Korea via a study I designed. My research aims to identify cultural and familial risk factors of drinking to delay the onset of drinking (prevention) and reduce drinking (intervention).

Choe, SY., Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J., & Lee, K-U. (2026). Repayment expectation is associated with Korean middle school male-identified adolescents’ drinking indirectly via parental psychological control, whereas indebtedness is not. Psychological Reports. doi: 10.1177/00332941251415323

Choe, SY. & Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J. (2025). Respect based on age and parental psychological control as risk factors for drinking among Korean middle school adolescents in Seoul. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse. doi: 10.1080/15332640.2025.2591733

Prevention and intervention

With my research on the mechanism through which PPC impairs healthy development, I hope to build a prevention/intervention program to reduce PPC and equip parents with positive parenting techniques. I have worked on adolescent suicide prevention and been researching adolescents' alcohol use prevention.

Choe, SY., Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J., & Lee, K-U. (2026). Repayment expectation is associated with Korean middle school male-identified adolescents’ drinking indirectly via parental psychological control, whereas indebtedness is not. Psychological Reports. doi: 10.1177/00332941251415323

Choe, SY. & Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J. (2025). Respect based on age and parental psychological control as risk factors for drinking among Korean middle school adolescents in Seoul. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse. doi: 10.1080/15332640.2025.2591733

Choe, SY., Lengua, L. J., McFall, J. P., & Wyman, P. A. (2023). Adolescents’ comfort in disclosing to caregivers predicts suicidal thoughts and behaviors directly and indirectly through difficulties in emotion regulation. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. doi: 10.1007/s10964-023-01785-8

Belief formation

I examined how people form their beliefs about aggression and certain moral decision-making. (a) I adopted the Social Information Processing model of children’s aggressive behavior (Dodge & Crick, 1990) to explain how adolescents noticing PPC (as aggression) could first build a belief system that aggression is okay, both in general and as retaliation, and lead to later physical aggression. Only fathers’ psychological control (fPC) that adolescents reported at age 13 predicted aggression-justifying beliefs at age 16, which then predicted their physical aggression at age 18. My paper is one of only a few papers that documented moral belief formation as a mechanism of PPC and negative development predicted only by fPC. (b) As opposed to previous literature which emphasized that priming emotions (situational) changed utilitarian moral judgments, I found that trait emotions—dispositional anger, disgust, and empathy—were associated with utilitarian moral judgments while dispositional guilt and shame were not.

Choe, SY., Lee, J. O., & Read, S. J. (2022). Adolescent normative beliefs about aggression mediate the association between fathers' psychological control in adolescence and physical aggression in emerging adulthood. Social Development. doi: 10.1111/sode.12597

Choe, SY., & Min, KH. (2011). Who makes utilitarian judgments? The influences of emotions on utilitarian judgments. Judgment and Decision Making, 6(7), 580-592. doi:10.1017/S193029750000262X

Immigrant parenting and mental health

The target populations for my research are immigrants, especially Latinx and Asian immigrants in the US, especially what Latinx and Asian American families consider to be intrusive. I am in the process of examining what Korean families with adolescent children believe to be intrusive. I would like to examine their parenting, acculturation, struggles, and mental health issues to build a prevention/intervention program for immigrant families to help them.

I am also analyzing data from Nicaraguan adolescents on their perception of parental psychological control, prosocial behaviors, and depression.

Methodologies

I value diverse methods:

quantitative: I learned longitudinal data analyses including longitudinal Structural Equation Modeling and Multilevel Modeling. I also attended a lot of statistics education to learn diverse statistical methods. I love using R, the free package, and I invested my time for learning how to create aesthetically pleasing plots in R.
qualitative: I also value the rich data that observation, interviews, narratives, and diaries provide. I would like to design and conduct studies with these methods.
biological/neurological: I used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) for my first Master's thesis and during my predoctoral training at CU Boulder. In addition, I am versed in biology (my undergraduate major).

Publications

Choe, SY., Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J., & Lee, K-U. (2026). Repayment expectation is associated with Korean middle school male-identified adolescents’ drinking indirectly via parental psychological control, whereas indebtedness is not. Psychological Reports. doi: 10.1177/00332941251415323

Choe, SY. & Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J. (2025). Respect based on age and parental psychological control as risk factors for drinking among Korean middle school adolescents in Seoul. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse. doi: 10.1080/15332640.2025.2591733

Choe, SY., Laursen, B., Cheah, C. S. L., Lengua, L. J., Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J., & Bagner, D. M. (2023). Intrusiveness and emotional manipulation as facets of parental psychological control: A culturally and developmentally sensitive reconceptualization. Human Development. doi: 10.1159/000530493

Choe, SY., Lengua, L. J., McFall, J. P., & Wyman, P. A. (2023). Adolescents’ comfort in disclosing to caregivers predicts suicidal thoughts and behaviors directly and indirectly through difficulties in emotion regulation. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. doi: 10.1007/s10964-023-01785-8

Choe, SY., Lee, J. O., & Read, S. J. (2022). Adolescent normative beliefs about aggression mediate the association between fathers' psychological control in adolescence and physical aggression in emerging adulthood. Social Development. doi: 10.1111/sode.12597

Choe, SY., Lee, J. O., & Read, S. J. (2021). Parental psychological control perceived in adolescence predicts jealousy toward romantic partners in emerging adulthood via insecure attachment. Social Development. doi: 10.1111/sode.12514

Choe, SY., Lee, J. O., & Read, S. J. (2020). Psychological intimate partner violence, insecure attachment, and parental psychological control from adolescence to emerging adulthood. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. doi: 10.1177/0886260520957974

Choe, SY., Lee, J. O., & Read, S. J. (2020). Self-concept as a mechanism through which parental psychological control impairs empathy development from adolescence to emerging adulthood. Social Development. doi: 10.1111/sode.12431

Choe, SY., & Read, S. J. (2019). Perceived parental psychological control has indirect effects on aggression via need satisfaction and motivation for revenge. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. doi: 10.1177/0265407518796325

Choe, SY., & Min, KH. (2011). Who makes utilitarian judgments? The influences of emotions on utilitarian judgments. Judgment and Decision Making, 6(7), 580-592. doi:10.1017/S193029750000262X

Talks

Choe, SY. (January 2026). Cuturally sensitive research on parental psychological control: Testing the Two Facet Parental Psychological Control Scale with Korean Middle School Adolescents. University of Texas at El Paso, Department of Psychology, El Paso, TX.

Choe, SY., Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J., & Zhou, Q. (August 2025). What Korean adolescents believe to be intrusive parenting and its associations with adjustment. American Psychological Association annual meeting, Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity and Race (Division 45, American Psychological Association), Denver, CO.

Choe, SY., Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J., Zhou, Q., & Lui, P. (April 2025). Two facets of parental psychological control as risk factors of Korean adolescents’ drinking. Collaborative Perspectives on Addiction annual meeting, Society of Addiction Psychology (Division 50, American Psychological Association), Providence, RI.

Choe, SY. (November 2024). What is intrusive parenting for Korean adolescents? Testing the Two Facet Parental Psychological Control Scale in Korean middle school adolescents in Seoul. University of California Irvine, Cultural Resiliency and Learning Center, Irvine, CA.

Choe, SY. (October 2024). What is intrusive parenting for Korean adolescents? Testing the Two Facet Parental Psychological Control Scale in Korean middle school adolescents in Seoul. University of Southern California, Center for Economic and Social Research, Los Angeles, CA.

Choe, SY. (April 2024). Cultural and familial risk factors of adolescents’ drinking in Korean American families: K99 application to NIAAA. University of California San Francisco, NIH Research Career Development Award Application Workshop, Zoom.

Choe, SY. (April 2024). What is intrusive parenting for Korean adolescents? Testing the Two Facet Parental Psychological Control Scale in Korean middle school adolescents in Seoul. University of California Berkeley, Institute of Human Development Colloquia, Berkeley, CA.

Choe, SY. (September 2023). Parental psychological control in Mexican immigrant families: K99 application to NICHD. University of California San Francisco, NIH Research Career Development Award Application Workshop, Zoom.

Choe, SY. (July 2023). Parental psychological control and adolescent drinking: K99 application to NIAAA. University of California San Francisco, Dr. Ann Chu’s research meeting, Zoom.

Choe, SY. (June 2023). Parental psychological control research by Dr. So Young Choe. University of California Berkeley, guest lecture in Dr. Qing Zhou’s course, Berkeley, CA.

Choe, SY. (December 2022). Career development from personality psychology to substance use research. Baylor research meeting, Zoom.

Choe, SY. (March 2022). Developmental pathway to suicidal risks (or protection from suicide). Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide fellows’ meeting, Zoom.

Choe, SY. (November 2021). From Asian cultural values, parental psychological control, to suicide prevention in adolescence. Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide fellows’ meeting, Zoom.

Choe, SY. (April 2021). Asian maternal psychological control data analyses and my grant application plans. Midwest Longitudinal Study of Asian American Families data analysis meeting, Zoom.

Choe, SY. (February 2020). Narratives of parental psychological control from Asian and Hispanic populations. Parenting and Family Dynamics Preconference, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, New Orleans, LA.

Choe, SY. (October 2019). Insecure attachment as a mechanism through which parental psychological control impairs healthy personality development from adolescence to emerging adulthood. Psychology colloquium, California State University San Bernardino, San Bernardino, CA.

Choe, SY. (February 2019). Parental psychological control, self, and empathy in adolescence and emerging adulthood. Parenting and Family Dynamics Preconference, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Portland, OR.

Choe, SY. (November 2018). Perceived parental psychological control predicts later delinquency and aggression: The mediating role of insecure attachment. Institute of Prevention Research Speaker Series, Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck Medicine of University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.

Choe, SY. (March 2018). Perceived parental psychological control, attachment, and externalizing in adolescence and emerging adulthood. Social area Brown Bag, Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.

Choe, SY. (March 2018). Perceived parental psychological control and externalizing behaviors: The role of insecure attachment. Parenting and Family Dynamics Preconference, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Atlanta, GA.

Choe, SY. (November 2015). How perceived parental psychological control is related to adolescent anger and aggression. BCS & Developmental Lunch Seminar, Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.

Choe, SY. (September 2015). How Perceived parental psychological control is related to adolescent need satisfaction, anger, and aggression. Social area Brown Bag, Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.

Choe, SY. (July 2013). Introduction to fMRI and brain systems involved in making utilitarian moral judgments. Catholic University Psychiatry Affective Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychiatry, Uijeongbu St. Mary’s Hospital, Uijeongbu, South Korea.

Choe, SY. (December 2010). Introduction to fMRI: How neuroimiging can help memory research. Kaang Neurobiology Laboratory, School of Biological Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.

Poster presentations

Choe, SY. & Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J. (March 2026). Two facets of parental psychological control and the mental health of Korean adolescents from a disadvantaged area of Seoul. Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine, Seattle, WA. Abstract accepted for a poster presentation; Withdrawn by the authors.

Choe, SY., Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J., Zhou, Q,. & Lui, P. (August 2025). What Korean adolescents believe to be intrusive parenting and its associations with alcohol use. American Psychological Association annual meeting, Society of Addiction Psychology (Division 50, American Psychological Association), Denver, CO.

Choe, SY. & Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J. (June 2025). Rewards for obeying primary caregivers amplify risk posed by parental psychological control to drinking among Korean middle school adolescents in Seoul. Research Society on Alcohol annual meeting, New Orleans, LA.

Choe, SY., Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J., & Lui, P. (June 2025). Two facets of parental psychological control—intrusiveness and emotional manipulation—differentially predict drinking among Korean middle school adolescents in Seoul. Research Society on Alcohol annual meeting, New Orleans, LA.

Choe, SY. & Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J. (June 2025). Rewards for obeying caregivers do not decrease drinking predicted by parental psychological control and rather increase drinking frequency among Korean middle school adolescents: Interaction analyses. College on Problems of Drug Dependence annual meeting, New Orleans, LA.

Choe, SY. (April 2025). Overlapping boundaries and psychological control as risk factors of Korean adolescents’ drinking. Collaborative Perspectives on Addiction annual meeting, Society of Addiction Psychology (Division 50, American Psychological Association), Providence, RI.

Choe, SY., Grube, J. W., Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J., & Lee, K-U. (June 2024). Indebtedness and parental psychological control as risk factors for drinking among middle school adolescents in Seoul, South Korea. Research Society on Alcohol annual meeting, Minneapolis, MN.

Choe, SY., Martinez, P. & Grube, J. W. (June 2024). “Mommy juice” does not reduce stress among Hispanic/Latina, Non-Hispanic Black, and Non-Hispanic White female-identified caregivers with a trauma history. Research Society on Alcohol annual meeting, Minneapolis, MN. Abstract accepted for a poster presentation; Withdrawn by the authors.

Choe, SY., Carlo, G., Schoppe-Sullivan, S. J., Grube, J. W., Zhou, Q., Bagner, D. M., & Lee, K-U. (May 2024). The two facet model of parental psychological control: A new scale measuring intrusiveness and emotional manipulation in Korean middle school adolescents in Seoul. Association for Psychological Science, San Francisco, CA. Abstract accepted for a poster presentation; Withdrawn by the authors.

Choe, SY. & Grube, J. W. (April 2024). Intrusive parenting and respect based on age as risk factors for Korean middle school adolescents’ drinking. Collaborative Perspectives on Addiction annual meeting, American Psychology Association, Denver, CO.

Choe, SY., Lengua, L. J., McFall, J. P., & Wyman, P. A. (March 2023). Adolescent comfort in disclosing to their caregivers predicts later suicidal thoughts and behaviors directly and indirectly via emotion regulation. Society for Research in Child Development biannual meeting, Salt Lake City, UT. Abstract accepted for a poster presentation; Withdrawn by the authors.

Choe, SY., Lee, J. O., & Read, S. J. (April 2018). Attachment anxiety mediates the relationship between perceived parental psychological control and aggression in adolescence. Poster presentations, Society for Research on Adolescence, Minneapolis, MN.

Choe, SY., & Read, S. J. (June 2017). Thwarted need satisfaction mediates the relation between perceived parental psychological control and anger and aggression. Poster presentations, Association for Research in Personality, Sacramento, CA.

Choe, SY., & Read, S. J. (January 2017). Later perceived jealousy mediates the relation between earlier perceived parental psychological control and later externalizing behaviors. Poster presentations, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Antonio, TX.

Choe, SY., & Read, S. J. (March 2016). Parental psychological control is related to need satisfaction, anger, and aggression. Poster presentations, Society for Research on Adolescence, Baltimore, MD.

Choe, SY., & Read, S. J. (January 2016). Parental psychological control is related to need satisfaction, anger, and aggression. Poster presentations, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, San Diego, CA.

Choe, SY., & Read, S. J. (September 2015). Parental psychological control is related to adolescent need satisfaction, anger, and aggression. Poster presentations, 2nd year poster party, Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.

Choe, SY., & Read, S. J. (February 2015). Parental psychological control is related to self-control, impulsivity, and risk-perception of emerging adults. Poster presentations, Behavioral Science and Policy Conference: Health and Wellbeing 2015, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.

Choe, SY., Schafer, S. M., Wager, T. D., & Lee, K-M. (April 2013). Brain systems involved in making utilitarian judgments in moral decision-making. Poster presentations, Social and Affective Neuroscience Society 2013, San Francisco, CA.

Choe, SY., Schafer, S. M., Wager, T. D., & Lee, K-M. (October 2012). Brain systems involved in making utilitarian judgments in moral decision-making. Poster presentations, Society for Social Neuroscience 2012 and Society for Neuroscience 2012, New Orleans, LA.