Junwen Hu

I am a Ph.D. candidate (all-but-dissertation) at the Department of Communication, Michigan State University. I devote my research to developing supportive communication strategies that promote social and emotional well-being and resilience, employing various data types and advanced statistical models. These communication strategies involve messages, networks, and technologies. The work I led was published in impactful journals like Journal of Social and Personal Relationshops, Computers in Human Behavior, and Cyberpsychology and reported by scientific media like PsyPost and Phys.org.

Holding two degrees in applied communication (Nanjing University) and now PhD'ing at the first Communication Department in the US, known for its theoretical training, I am passionate about developing social scientific theories that address real-world problems.

The specific areas I focus on mainly include: online dating, social support, relationships, and well-being. I am familiar with mediation/moderation, structural equation modeling, mixed effects modeling, and social network analysis. I am comfortable with designing surveys and message experiments and also exploring existing datasets to answer research questions of interest.

About Me | Publication --------------------- Selected Work
A longitudinal analysis of how romantic and friendship involvement are associated with depressive symptoms
Junwen Hu
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, Feb, 2025.
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Key concern
Applying mixed effects models, I found that compared roles of romantic and friendship involvements over time and revealed findings that lead to reflections on common perceptions. Click to read more.

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.
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Key concern
Are relationships beginning in online dating more successful than those that begin offline? We had different findings than research conducted a decade ago and revealed a moderator. Click to read more.

The relationship between preference for online social interaction and affective well-being via compulsive dating app use: The moderating role of algorithmic beliefs
Junwen Hu and Jian (Raymond) Rui
Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, Sep, 2023.
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Key concern
Using moderated mediation models, we uncovered positive roles of algorithimc beliefs, which motivate me to continue a whole line of follow-up research that explores communication strategies to promote online social experiences. Click to read more.