I am a Ph.D. candidate (ABD) at the Department of Communication in Michigan State University.
My research decodes human behaviors through relational communication, looking at the structure of the relationships between people, content of messages they exchange, and technologies they use to interact.
My findings are published in journals like the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships and Computers in Human Behavior. Some of them are covered by media in more than one language, for example,
PsyPost (2024, 2025) and 缪斯夫人（upcoming）.
I am good at identifying problems and employ various data types (e.g., experimental, longitudinal, network) and advanced statistical models (e.g., SEM, MLM) to generate insights and offer solutions.
I have been focused on three research lines. First, I study how AI-driven technology, like algorithms, shapes formation of relationships and social structure at large.
Second, I examine the link between the structure of voluntary relationships and personal well-being.
Third, I explore how social support is provided within the structure of voluntary relationships.
My research was frequently funded, for example, by the Strosacker Research Grant. I was also funded by the University of Michigan to Participate in the Summer Training Session of the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)
Understanding availability of comforting support messages from a networked attachment perspective
Junwen Hu
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, Apr, 2025.
Key concern
I proposed and tested a networked attachment perspective to explain why people may fail to receive enough comforting support.
A longitudinal analysis of how romantic and friendship involvement are associated with depressive symptoms
Junwen Hu
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, Feb, 2025.
Key concern
Applying mixed effects models, I produced findings about friendships and romantic relationships that contradict common perceptions.
Does online dating make relationships more successful? Replication and extension of a previous study
Junwen Hu, Rui Zhu, and Yue Zhang
Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, Jul, 2024.
Key concern
We compared the success of relationships that began online and offline and showed noteworthy patterns.