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itung@csudh.edu

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EDUCATION:

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RESEARCH INTERESTS:

Prenatal Stress; Early Life Stress; Child and Adolescent Mental Health; Developmental Psychopathology; Resilience and Prevention; Digital Health/mHealth; Mental Health Equity

I am a licensed clinical psychologist and director of the . My research examines stress, resilience, and the intergenerational processes shaping mental health in parents and children, with a particular focus on the pregnancy and postpartum period as a window of opportunity to support maternal wellbeing and children’s emotional development. Two questions guide my work:

1. How do experiences of stress and social connectedness during sensitive periods, such as pregnancy and early childhood, shape the way parents and children respond to stress in daily life?
2. What modifiable, protective factors in family and community settings help promote resilience and interrupt intergenerational pathways of risk?

Our current studies are funded by a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), and the American Psychological Foundation (APF). Working with racially and ethnically diverse samples of pregnant individuals, we are investigating how everyday stressors and sources of connection shape stress physiology during pregnancy, and how these processes relate to children’s early emotional reactivity and regulation. Our studies follow families from pregnancy through early childhood, combining clinical and qualitative interviews with laboratory measures of stress physiology and inflammation. To understand how these processes unfold in daily life, we integrate mobile health methods such as wearable biosensors and smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment. The goal of this research is to inform preventive interventions that can be delivered during pregnancy and early childhood to promote mental health equity among families experiencing chronic life stressors.

INTERESTED IN JOINING THE PERCH LAB?

I am deeply invested in mentoring students in research and advocating for equitable training pathways into careers in psychological science and practice. Students in the PERCH Lab work directly with pregnant and postpartum families, assist with recruitment and data collection, code qualitative interviews and parent-child interaction tasks, and analyze psychosocial and physiological data. Research assistants receive hands-on training in clinical research methods and have the opportunity to present their research at conferences, develop independent projects, and receive mentored support as they apply for graduate school. No prior research experience is required.

To learn more and apply for a Research Assistant (RA) position, please visit my lab website:Ìý

LINKS TO DR. TUNG’S PUBLISHED WORK:

1. Google Scholar Page:
2. ResearchGate Profile:

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REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS:

Tung, I., Cannova, E., Balaji, U., Peredia, A., & Hipwell, A. E. (2025). Measuring heart rate variability during pregnancy using mobile health technology: Validity and acceptability of the movisens EcgMove4 device in a community sample. Biopsychosocial Science and Medicine, 87(7), 483–492. doi:10.1097/PSY.0000000000001400Ìý

Tung, I., Hipwell, A. E., Grosse, P., Battaglia, L. P., Quick, A. D., English, G., Cannova, E. M., Llamas, B A., Taylor, M., Foust, J. E. (2024). Prenatal stress and offspring externalizing behaviors in childhood and adolescence: A systematic review and meta-analysis.ÌýPsychological Bulletin, 150(2), 107–131. doi:10.1037/bul0000407

Tung, I., Balaji, U., Hipwell, A. E., Low, C. A., & Smyth, J. M. (2024). Feasibility and acceptability of measuring prenatal stress in daily life using smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment and wearable physiological monitors.ÌýJournal of Behavioral Medicine. Advance online publication. doi:10.1007/s10865-024-00484-4

Tung, I., Keenan, K., & Hipwell, A. E. (2024). Resilience to stress during pregnancy: Biopsychosocial mechanisms and implications for offspring emotional and behavioral outcomes in toddlerhood.ÌýDevelopmental Psychology. Advance online publication. doi:10.1037/dev0001695Ìý

Tung, I., Keenan, K., & Hipwell, A. E. (2023). Adolescent mothers’ psychological wellbeing during pregnancy and infant emotional health.ÌýJournal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 52(5), 616-632. doi:10.1080/15374416.2021.1981339

Tung, I., Krafty, R. T., Delcourt, M. L., Melhem, N., Jennings, J. R., Keenan, K., & Hipwell, A. E. (2021). Cardiac vagal control in response to acute stress during pregnancy: Associations with life stress and emotional support.ÌýPsychophysiology, 58(6), e13808.

Tung, I., Keenan, K., Stepp, S. D., & Hipwell, A. E. (2020). The moderating effects of traumatic stress on vulnerability to emotional distress during pregnancy.ÌýDevelopment and Psychopathology, 32, 673-686. doi:10.1017/S0954579419000531Ìý

Tung, I., Beardslee, J., Pardini, D., Chung, T., Keenan, K., & Hipwell, A. E. (2020). Adolescent childbirth, miscarriage, and abortion: Associations with changes in alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette use.ÌýJournal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 61(1), 104–111. doi:10.1111/jcpp.13112Ìý

Tung, I., Christian-Brandt, A. S., Langley, A., & Waterman, J. M. (2020). Developmental outcomes of infants adopted from foster care: Predictive associations from perinatal and preplacement risk factors.ÌýInfancy, 25(1), 84-109. doi:10.1111/infa.12319

Tung, I., Noroña, A. N., & Lee, S. S. (2019). Childhood maltreatment affects adolescent sensitivity to parenting and close friendships in predicting growth in externalizing behavior.ÌýDevelopment and Psychopathology, 31, 1237–1253. doi: 10.1017/S0954579418000585.

Tung, I., Morgan, J. E., Noroña, A. N., & Lee, S. S. (2017). Prenatal programming of postnatal plasticity for externalizing behavior: Testing an integrated developmental model of genetic and temperamental sensitivity to the environment.ÌýDevelopmental Psychobiology, 59(8), 984–996. doi: 10.1002/dev.21549

TEACHING: