Staff profile

My research has focused mainly on the social origins and meanings of loneliness and its consequences. Loneliness has been studied from the perspectives of psychiatry, psychology, philosophy, and gerontology. I have studied it as a social problem by examining the effects of social relations and social contexts (class, ethnicity, immigration, national culture, etc.). Ultimately, I see loneliness as a problem that is emblemic of the relationship between the individual and the society at large. Even more generally, I believe that the mission for all social scientists is to tackle genuine social problems, if it is unrealistic to talk about 'solving' them. I have also done some research on private business owners in the context of China's economic development in the earlier years of my career, and I am still doing research on issues related to China through supervising and supporting my PhD students. To me, studying their economic and political life is a key to understanding many seemingly paradoxical issues in contemporary China. Methodologically, I am open to all methodological approaches and capable to use a variety of technical methods. I use statistical methods regularly for analysing large-scale sample survey data, but I have also used case studies and qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). In every study my aspiration is to integrate theory, substantive knowledge, and technical skills with logical rigour.

Currently I teach Sociology of Mental Health and Illness for senior undergraduate students and Intermediate Statistics for psotgraduate students in the MA in Research Methods programme. 

I welcome any inquiries about potential study for a PhD degree with me. Any topic in the areas of sociology of mental health and illness, economic sociology, political sociology, social gerontology, or any topic related to China or comparative cross-national studies will be considered.

• Economic sociology and entrepreneurship
• Sociology of mental wellbeing
• China
• Statistical methods in social research
• Social gerontology

Authored book

• Yang, K. (2023). Analysing Intersectionality: A toolbox of methods. Sage Publications, Ltd
• Yang, K. (2019). Loneliness: A Social Problem. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315148410
• Yang, K. (2012). Capitalists in Communist China. Palgrave Macmillan
• Yang, K. (2010). Making Sense of Statistics for Social Research. SAGE Publications
• Yang, K. (2007). Entrepreneurship in China. Ashgate Publishing

Chapter in book

• Yang, K. (2013). ‘Auf welcher Seite stehst du? Chinas kommunistischer Staat zwischen KapitalistInnen und ArbeiterInnen’ (‘Whose Side Are You on? China’s Communist state between the capitalists and the workers’). In G. Egger, D. Fuchs, T. Immervoll, & L. Steinmassl (Eds.), Arbeitskämpfe in China: Berichte von der Werkbank der Welt (194-209). Promedia
• Yang, K. (2013). Keep Business for Business: Associations of private enterprises in China. In J. Hsu, & R. Hasmath (Eds.), Chinese corporatist state: adaption, survival and resistance (66-82). Routledge
• Yang, K. (2010). 从财富到权力？对私营企业主参政的观察与思考 (From Wealth to Power? Some Observations and Thoughts on the Political Participation of Private Entrepreneurs). In 当代中国政治报告 (Research Reports on The Politics of Contemporary China) (92-105). (2010). Social Science Academic Press (Beijing, China)
• Yang, K. (2007). ‘Causal Analysis’ (pp.123-125), ‘Logistic Regression Analysis’ (pp.550-555), and ‘Loglinear Analysis’ (pp.555-558). In N. Salkind (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Measurement and Statistics. SAGE Publications

Edited book

• Yang, K. (Ed.). (2014). Categorical Data Analysis. SAGE Publications

Journal Article

• Yang, K. (online). Economic Growth and Quality of Life: What can the Europeans and the Chinese learn from each other?
• McKenna-Plumley, P. E., Turner, R. N., Yang, K., & Groarke, J. M. (2024). The brief scale of existential loneliness: scale development and psychometric evaluation. Current Psychology, 43(42), 32907-32920. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-024-06828-2
• Verity, L., Yang, K., Nowland, R., Shankar, A., Turnbull, M., & Qualter, P. (2024). Loneliness from the Adolescent Perspective: A Qualitative Analysis of Conversations about Loneliness between Adolescents and Childline Counsellors. Journal of Adolescent Research, 39(5), 1413-1443. https://doi.org/10.1177/07435584221111121
• Zheng, Y., Panayiotou, M., Currie, D., Yang, K., Bagnall, C., Qualter, P., & Inchley, J. (2024). The Role of School Connectedness and Friend Contact in Adolescent Loneliness, and Implications for Physical Health. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 55, 851–860. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-022-01449-x
• McKenna-Plumley, P. E., Turner, R. N., Yang, K., & Groarke, J. M. (2023). "It's a feeling of complete disconnection": experiences of existential loneliness from youth to older adulthood. BMC Psychology, 11(1), Article 408. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-023-01452-4
• Dunne, S., Williams, G. P., Bradbury, C., Keyes, T., Lane, A. R., Yang, K., & Ellison, A. (2023). Uncovering the social determinants of brain injury rehabilitation. Journal of Health Psychology, 28(10), https://doi.org/10.1177/13591053231166263
• Yang, K. (2023). Loneliness and intersectionality: A progressive conditional approach. Current Research in Behavioural Sciences, 5, Article 100122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crbeha.2023.100122
• Yang, K., Armstrong, N., Diamond, C., Lane, A. R., & Dunne, S. (2022). The meaning of loneliness to stroke survivors: A qualitative study in Northeast England. Journal of Health Psychology, 27(11), 2539-2548. https://doi.org/10.1177/13591053211017198
• Noone, C., & Yang, K. (2022). Community‐based responses to loneliness in older people: A systematic review of qualitative studies. Health and Social Care in the Community, 30(4), e859 - e873. https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.13682
• Yang, K., Peterson, K., & Qualter, P. (2022). Undesirable social relations as risk factors for loneliness among 14-year-olds in the UK: Findings from the Millennium Cohort Study. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 46(1), 3-9. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025420965737
• Soo, S. H. J., Tan, S. Y., & Yang, K. (2022). Types of Social Support Associated with Depression in the UK Adult Population. Environment social psychology, 7(1), Article 810. https://doi.org/10.18063/esp.v7.i1.810
• Qualter, P., Hennessey, A., Yang, K., Chester, K. L., Klemera, E., & Brooks, F. (2021). Prevalence and Social Inequality in Youth Loneliness in the UK. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(19), Article 10420. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph181910420
• Meersohn Schmidt, C., & Yang, K. (2020). Controlling active ageing: a study of social imaginaries of older people in Chile. Ageing & Society, 40(7), 1428-1454. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0144686x18001733
• McKenna-Plumley, P. E., Groarke, J. M., Turner, R. N., & Yang, K. (2020). Experiences of loneliness: a study protocol for a systematic review and thematic synthesis of qualitative literature. Systematic Reviews, 9(1), Article 284. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-020-01544-x
• Joy, S. S. H., Yin, T. S., & Yang, K. (2019). Types of Social Support Associated with Depression in the UK Adult Population. Environment social psychology, 4(2), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.18063/esp.v4i2.810
• Yang, K. (2018). Causal conditions for loneliness: a set-theoretic analysis on an adult sample in the UK. Quality and Quantity, 52(2), 685-701. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-017-0482-y
• Yang, K. (2018). Longitudinal Loneliness and Its Risk Factors among Older People in England. Canadian Journal on Aging, 37(1), 12-21. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0714980817000526
• Lin, L., & Yang, K. (2017). The Price of Informality: How Informal Finance Schemes Defaulted in China, 1989–2015. China: An International Journal, 15(4), 111-135
• Yang, K., & Banamah, A. (2014). Quota Sampling as an Alternative to Probability Sampling? An Experimental Study. Sociological Research Online, 19(1), Article 29. https://doi.org/10.5153/sro.3199
• Victor, C., & Yang, K. (2012). The Prevalence of Loneliness Among Adults: A Case Study of the United Kingdom. The Journal of Psychology, 146(1-2), 85-104. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.2011.613875
• Yang, K. (2012). The Dependency of Private Entrepreneurs on the Chinese State. Strategic Change, 21(3-4), 107-117. https://doi.org/10.1002/jsc.1898
• Yang, K., & Victor, C. (2011). Age and Loneliness in 25 European Nations. Ageing & Society, 31(8), 1368-1388. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0144686x1000139x
• Yang, K., & Yi, L. (2009). Risk Factors and Family Supports for Limitations in ADL among Older People in Urban China. Hallym international journal of aging, 11(1), 13-32. https://doi.org/10.2190/ha.11.1.b
• Yang, K., & Victor, C. (2008). The Prevalence of and Risk Factors for Loneliness among Older People in China. Ageing & Society, 28(3), 305-327. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0144686x07006848
• Byrne, D., & Yang, K. (2008). ‘Conceptual and Statistical Problems in Exploring the Relationship among Volume, Outcome and Context in Relation to the Organization of Secondary and Tertiary Health Provision – an issue of causal inference in non-experimental research. Radical statistics, 96, 87-98
• Yang, K. (2007). Individual Social Capital and Its Measurement in Social Surveys. Survey research methods, 1(1), 19-27
• Yang, K. (2004). Institutional Holes and Entrepreneurship in China. Sociological Review, 52(3), 371-389. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-954x.2004.00485.x
• Yang, K. (2002). Double Entrepreneurship in China's Economic Reform: An Analytical Framework. Journal of political & military sociology, 30(1), 134-147

Other (Digital/Visual Media)

• Yang, K. (2014). Loneliness has serious health risks and the solution is social