Youngmi Kim
Email: ykim@vcu.edu
Phone: (804) 828-3613
Pronouns: She/her
Youngmi Kim, Ph.D., centers her research interests on economic deprivation (poverty, food insecurity and financial assets) and their impacts on child/adolescent development, physical/mental health and well-being across the life span. Her current research also focuses on the intersection of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and financial challenges. Her work aims to inform innovative social policy and practice that reduce economic inequality.
She joined VCU in 2011 after completing her Ph.D. and postdoctoral research training in Washington University in St. Louis. She is currently a core faculty member in Sustainable Food Access, VCU Institute for Inclusion, Inquiry, and Innovation (iCubed), and a faculty associate affiliated with the Center for Social Development. She welcomes teaching and mentoring opportunities for students with common interests.
Areas of expertise
- Food Insecurity, Poverty and Inequality
- Financial Capability Program and Policy
- Adolescent and Youth Development
- Adverse Childhood Experiences
- Quantitative Research
Education and credentials
Postdoctoral fellow, Washington University, St. Louis
Ph.D., Washington University, St. Louis
M.S.W., Washington University, St. Louis
M.A., Yonsei University, Korea
B.A., Yonsei University, Korea
Work
Selected publications
Kim, Y. & Murphy, J. (2023). Mental Health, Food Insecurity, and Economic Hardship among College Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Health and Social Work, 48(2), 124-132.
Kim, Y., Park, A., & Murphy, J. (2023). Patterns of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Mental Health: Evidence from Young Adults in Korea. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 38.
Kim, Y., Murphy, J. (2022). Food Insecurity and Economic Hardship of College Students: Before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Poverty. Online First.
Kim, Y., Murphy, J., Craft, K., Waters, L., Gooden, B. (2022). “It's just a constant concern in the back of my mind”: Lived experiences of college food insecurity. Journal of American College Health. Online First.
Birkenmaier, J., Kim, Y., Maynard, B. (2022). Financial Outcomes of Interventions Designed to Improve Financial Capability through Individual Development Accounts: A Systematic Review. Journal of Evidence-Based Social Work, 19(4), 408-439.
Birkenmaier, J. M., Maynard, B., & Kim, Y. (2022). Interventions designed to improve financial capability: A systematic review. Research on Social Work Practice, 32(6).
Kim, Y., Lee, H, & Park, A. (2022). Patterns of adverse childhood experiences and depressive symptoms: Self-esteem as a mediating mechanism. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 57(2).
Kim, Y., Kim, K, Chartier, K., Wike, T., & McDonald, S. (2021). Adverse Childhood Experience Patterns, Major Depressive Disorder, and Substance Use Disorder in Older Adults. Ageing and Mental Health, 25(3).
Birkenmaier, J., Kim, Y., & Maynard, B. (2021). Financial Outcomes of Interventions to Improve Financial Capability through Children’s Development Accounts: A Systematic Review. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research. Advance online.
Birkenmaier, J., Kim, Y., & Maynard, B. (2021): Financial Outcomes of Interventions Designed to Improve Retirement Savings: A Systematic Review. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 64(3), 238-256.
Huang, J., Sherraden, M., Clancy, M., Shanks, T. R., & Kim, Y. (2021) Asset Building and Child Development: Testing a Policy Model for Inclusive Child Development Accounts. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 7(3), 176-195.
Kim, Y., Lee, H, & Park, A. (2020). Adverse Childhood Experiences, Economic Hardship, and Obesity: Differences by Gender. Children and Youth Services Review, 116.
Lee, H., Kim, Y., & Terry J. (2020). Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on mental disorders in young adulthood: Latent classes and community violence exposure. Preventive Medicine, 134.
Lee, H., & Kim, Y. (2019). Living in three-generation family households and body mass index trajectories in Hispanic adolescents: Different associations by immigrant status. Children and Youth Services Review, 107.
Kim, Y., Park, A., & Kim, K. (2019). Food insecurity and depressive symptoms of older adults living alone in South Korea. Ageing and Society, 39, 2042-2058.
Kim, Y., Ju, E., Rosenberg, R., & Farmer, B. (2019). Estimating the effects of Independent Living Services on educational attainment and employment of foster care youth. Children and Youth Services Review, 96, 294-301.
Huang, J., Beverly, S., Kim, Y., Clancy, M., & Sherraden, M. (2019). Exploring a Model for Integrating Child Development Accounts with Social Services for Vulnerable Families. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 53(3), 770–795.
Kim, Y., Huang, J., Sherraden, M, & Clancy, M. (2018). Child Development Accounts and saving for college: Mediated by parental educational expectations? Social Science Quarterly, 99(3), 1105–1118.
Park A, & Kim, Y. (2018). The Longitudinal Influence of Child Maltreatment on Child Obesity in South Korea: The Mediating Effects of Low Self-Esteem and Depressive Symptoms. Children and Youth Services Review, 87 (April), 34-40.
Rosenberg, R., & Kim, Y. (2018). Aging out of Foster Care: Homelessness, Post-Secondary Education, and Employment. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 12(1), 99-115.
Kim, Y., Huang, J., Sherraden, M., & Clancy, M. (2017). Child Development Accounts, Parental Savings, and Parental Educational Expectations: A Path Model. Children and Youth Services Review, 79 (August), 20-28.
Kim, Y., Park, A., & Huang, J. (2017). Is food insecurity associated with depressive symptoms in South Korea? Asian Social Work and Policy Review, 11, 30-39.
Huang, J., Kim, Y., & Sherraden, M. (2017). Material hardship and children’s social-emotional development: Testing mitigating effects of Child Development Accounts in a randomized experiment. Child: Care, Health & Development, 43(1), 89-96.
Kim, Y., Kim, K., & Lee, S. (2015). Testing the Self-Efficacy Questionnaire with Korean children in institutionalized care. Research on Social Work Practice.
Kim, Y., Sherraden, M., Huang, J., & Clancy, M. (2015). Child Development Accounts and Parental Educational Expectations for Young Children: Early Evidence from a Statewide Social Experiment. Social Service Review, 89 (1), 99-137.
Professional highlights
Selected research projects
- PI, “Promoting Ram Pantry Utilization with Peer Support”
- Co-PI, “A Programmatic Evaluation of Use and Efficacy of Little Food Pantries to Mitigate College Student Food Insecurity at an Urban Public University”
- Co-PI, “Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), Counter-ACEs, and Health outcomes in Korean college students”
Selected accomplishments and features
- 2023: Social Justice Award, VCU
- 2021: Social Justice Award (Team RAACE), VCU
- Fellow, the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR)
- 2013: Faculty Social Justice Award, VCU
- “Combatting Student Food Insecurity This Holiday Season”, Vocal Media's education vertical, 1/9/2023
- “Biden to Eliminate Food Insecurity by 2030—Could It Also Improve Mental Health?”, Verywellmind, 10/14/2022.
- “Community members, legislators, academics work to eliminate food insecurity”, NBC12 News, 4/29/2022.
- “Little Ram Pantries project expands, including to the MCV Campus”, VCU News, 3/21/2022.
- “Little Ram Pantries continues to support students two months after launch”, The Commonwealth Times, 12/1/2021.
- “Little Ram Pantries will provide emergency food assistance to VCU students,” VCU News, 10/11/2021
- “iCubed Sustainable Food Access core member evaluates VCU student food insecurity,” VCU Office of Institutional Equity, Effectiveness and Success, 7/15/2021
- “Hunger grows in Henrico as pandemic wears on,” Henrico Citizen, 3/4/2021
Selected affiliations and service
- 2019-present: Core faculty member, Sustainable Food Access, the Institute for Inclusion, Inquiry and Innovation (iCubed), VCU
- 2011-present: Faculty associate, Center for Social Development, Washington University in St. Louis
- Consulting editor, Social Work Research
- Editorial Board, Korean Journal of Social Welfare Research
- Editorial Board, Journal of Critical Social Policy
Teaching and interest areas
Current Courses
- Foundations of Social Work Research (SLWK609, M.S.W.)
- Research for Planning and Administrative Practice I & II (SLWK714 & 715, M.S.W.)
- Introduction to Quantitative Data Analysis (SWKD 702, Ph.D.)
- Applied Quantitative Research Seminar (SWKD730, Ph.D.)