Lijun Chen is a Senior Researcher at Chapin Hall. His research interests include the development, education, and general well-being of maltreated children and children in the child welfare system, and the performance evaluation of providers of child welfare services. He works on several projects, including a longitudinal analysis of NSCAW (National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being) data to understand the effect of contextual factors on developmental trajectories of children involved in the child welfare system, and a cross-national study of child disciplinary practices of parents in 30 nations, funded by UNICEF. He also participates in the performance evaluation of foster care agencies for several states and individual counties.

Dr. Chen holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago. He is proficient in statistical modeling and analysis of longitudinal and survival data concerning children and their families, and has published in Social Service Review and Children and Youth Services Review.