Community Informed Research for Racial Equity in Children’s Mental Health
at Loyola University Chicago
Sungha Kang, Ph.D.
Click here to hear how my name is pronounced!
ABOUT DR. KANG
I am accepting a clinical psychology doctoral student for Fall 2024!
I am an assistant professor in clinical psychology at Loyola University Chicago.
My program of research broadly aims to address mental health disparities among children of color. I am specifically interested in how childhood externalizing behaviors (e.g., hyperactivity, aggression, defiance) are identified and treated in Black and Brown children, and the disparate ways that our current systems of care disproportionately disciplines these children while failing to recognize their mental health needs. In doing so, I consider the interplay of contextual factors (e.g., parenting, families, schools and teachers, community violence) and systems-level factors (e.g., school districts, healthcare systems, juvenile justice systems) that contribute to the outcomes of children with externalizing behaviors. Through community-based participatory research methods, I aim to bolster community- and school-based mental health supports for children ultimately to dismantle the school-to-prison-pipeline that disproportionately affects Black and Brown youth in the United States.