Andrea J Romero
- Vice Provost, Faculty Affairs
- Professor, Family Studies-Human Development
- Professor, Mexican American Studies
- Professor, Psychology
- Member of the Graduate Faculty
- (520) 626-0613
- Administration, Rm. 501
- Tucson, AZ 85721-0066
- romeroa@arizona.edu
Degrees
- Ph.D. Social Psychology
- University of Houston, Houston, Texas
- M.A. Psychology
- University of Houston, Houston, Texas
- B.S. Chemistry
- Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas
Awards
- Women of Impact
- University of Arizona, Research, Innovation and Impact, Fall 2023
- Dr. Richard Ruiz Diversity Leadership Faculty Award
- The University of Arizona Office of Diversity & Inclusion., Spring 2018
- Academic Leadership Institute
- Office of the Provost, Fall 2017
- Emerging Administrator Award
- Board of Human Sciences, Spring 2017 (Award Nominee)
- Shirley O'Brien Diversity and Inclusion Award
- CALS, Spring 2017
- Cesar Chavez Award
- National Association of Social Workers - Tucson chapter, Spring 2016
- Mujer En La Lucha Award
- Arizona Cesar Chavez Coalition, Spring 2016
- Alfredo de Los Santos Teaching/Service Higher Education Award
- The Victoria Foundation, Fall 2015
- Super Star Award
- What type of organization made the award?: South Tucson Prevention Coalition and Youth 2 Youth;Description: I was nominated by the youth who work on the Drug Free Community Project to receive a Super Star Award to recognize my research and its positive impact on the local community;, Fall 2010
- What type of organization made the award?: South Tucson Prevention Coalition and Youth 2 Youth;Description: I was nominated by the youth who work on the Drug Free Community Project to receive a Super Star Award to recognize my research and its positive impact on the local community;, Fall 2008
Interests
Teaching
Chicano/a Psychology, Lifespan Development, Community Research, Methods
Research
Bicultural Stress, Ethnic Identity, Youth Participatory Action Research, Latino Families, Resilience, Neighborhood Assets
Courses
2024-25 Courses
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Honors Thesis
PSY 498H (Fall 2024)
2023-24 Courses
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Special Topics in Humanities
HNRS 195J (Fall 2023)
2022-23 Courses
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Honors Independent Study
PSY 299H (Spring 2023) -
Special Topics in Humanities
HNRS 195J (Fall 2022)
2019-20 Courses
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Dissertation
MAS 920 (Spring 2020) -
Dissertation
MAS 920 (Fall 2019)
2018-19 Courses
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Dissertation
MAS 920 (Summer I 2019) -
Dissertation
FSHD 920 (Spring 2019) -
Dissertation
MAS 920 (Spring 2019) -
Independent Study
FSHD 499 (Spring 2019) -
Indpnd Study Comp Exam
FSHD 799A (Spring 2019) -
Research
FSHD 900 (Spring 2019) -
Thesis
FSHD 910 (Spring 2019) -
Topics in FSHD
FSHD 496Z (Spring 2019) -
Dissertation
FSHD 920 (Fall 2018) -
Dissertation
MAS 920 (Fall 2018) -
Family+Consumer Sciences
FSHD 696Z (Fall 2018) -
Independent Study
PSY 399 (Fall 2018) -
Indpnd Study Comp Exam
FSHD 799A (Fall 2018) -
Research
FSHD 900 (Fall 2018) -
Thesis
FSHD 910 (Fall 2018)
2017-18 Courses
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Dissertation
FSHD 920 (Spring 2018) -
Dissertation
MAS 920 (Spring 2018) -
Independent Study
FSHD 599 (Spring 2018) -
Independent Study
FSHD 699 (Spring 2018) -
Independent Study
MAS 599 (Spring 2018) -
Research
FSHD 900 (Spring 2018) -
Rsrch Meth Fam+Hum Dev
FSHD 507B (Spring 2018) -
Dissertation
FSHD 920 (Fall 2017) -
Dissertation
MAS 920 (Fall 2017) -
Independent Study
FSHD 699 (Fall 2017) -
Research
FSHD 900 (Fall 2017) -
Rsrch Meth Fam+Hum Dev
FSHD 507A (Fall 2017)
2016-17 Courses
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Dissertation
FSHD 920 (Spring 2017) -
Dissertation
MAS 920 (Spring 2017) -
Independent Study
FSHD 599 (Spring 2017) -
Independent Study
FSHD 699 (Spring 2017) -
Independent Study
MAS 499 (Spring 2017) -
Indpnd Study Comp Exam
FSHD 799A (Spring 2017) -
Research
FSHD 900 (Spring 2017) -
Topics in FSHD
FSHD 496Z (Spring 2017) -
Dissertation
MAS 920 (Fall 2016) -
Family+Consumer Sciences
FSHD 696Z (Fall 2016) -
Independent Study
FSHD 499 (Fall 2016) -
Independent Study
FSHD 699 (Fall 2016) -
Independent Study
MAS 399 (Fall 2016) -
Indpnd Study Comp Exam
FSHD 799A (Fall 2016) -
Research
FSHD 900 (Fall 2016) -
Research
MAS 900 (Fall 2016) -
Thesis
FSHD 910 (Fall 2016)
2015-16 Courses
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Dissertation
FSHD 920 (Spring 2016) -
Dissertation
MAS 920 (Spring 2016) -
Honors Independent Study
PSY 399H (Spring 2016) -
Independent Study
FSHD 299 (Spring 2016) -
Independent Study
FSHD 399 (Spring 2016) -
Independent Study
FSHD 499 (Spring 2016) -
Independent Study
FSHD 699 (Spring 2016) -
Independent Study
MAS 299 (Spring 2016) -
Independent Study
MAS 699 (Spring 2016) -
Independent Study
PSY 399 (Spring 2016) -
Rsrch Meth Fam+Hum Dev
FSHD 507B (Spring 2016)
Scholarly Contributions
Books
- Romero, A. J., & Reyes, I. (2022). Advancing Educational Equity for Students of Mexican Descent. Routledge.More infoDrawing on participatory action research conducted with students, parents, families, and school staff in a Southwest community in the United States, this volume contests the interpretation of the achievement gap for students of Mexican descent in the American education system and highlights asset-based approaches that can facilitate students’ academic success.By presenting the Asset-Based Bicultural Continuum Model (ABC) and demonstrating the applications in a variety of family, school, and community-based initiatives, this volume demonstrates how community and cultural wealth can be harnessed to increase educational opportunities for Latino students. The ABC model offers new strategies which capitalize on the bicultural and linguistic assets rooted in local communities and offers place-based strategies driven by communities themselves in order to be tailored to students’ strengths. The text makes a significant contribution to understanding the social ecology of Latinx students’ experiences and offers a new direction for effective and evidence-based academic and health programs across the United States.This book will be a valuable resource for researchers and academics with an interest in the sociology of education, multicultural education, urban education, and bilingual education. It will be of particular interest to those with a focus on Hispanic and Latino studies.
- Romero, A. J., & Pina-watson, B. (2017). Acculturative Stress and Bicultural Stress. doi:10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780190215217.013.8
- Romero, A. J. (2016).
Youth-Community Partnerships for Adolescent Alcohol Prevention
. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-26030-3 - Romero, A. J. (2016). Youth and Community Based Participatory Research for Adolescent Alcohol Use Prevention:“We can’t do it alone”. Springer Publishing.More infoThis is a 12 chapter book based on 10 years of my research on adolescent alcohol prevention. It includes qualitative and quantitative research findings
- Romero, A. J., Bauman, S. A., Edwards, L., & Ritter, M. (2013). Preventing Teen Depression and Suicide Among Latinas.. New York: Springer Publishing.
Chapters
- Romero, A. J., & Pina-Watson, B. (2017). Acculturative stress and bicultural stress: Psychological measurement and mental health.. In Handboook of Acculturation and Health. Oxford Handbook.(p. 35). Oxford Press.More infoRomero, A.J. & Pina-Watson, B.(2017). Acculturative stress and bicultural stress: Psychological measurement and mental health. In S. Schwartz and J. Unger (Eds.). Handboook of Acculturation and Health. Oxford Handbook. RC1
- Caporale, J., Caporale, J., Romero, A. J., Fonseca, A. L., Perales, L., Valera, P., Perales, L. A., & Fonseca, A. L. (2016). After-school youth substance use prevention to develop youth leadership capacity: South Tucson prevention coalition phase 1. In Youth-Community Partnerships for Adolescent Alcohol Prevention(pp 63-83). Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-26030-3_4More infoThis chapter is about South Tucson Prevention Coalition (STPC) Phase 1, which was an after-school prevention program for teens. In a low-income barrio where issues of substance abuse, underage drinking, and high teen-pregnancy were prevalent, insiders of this community created the Omeyocan Youth Empowerment and Sexuality (YES) program. Omeyocan YES was a dual-gendered adolescent project based on Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy model. The Omeyocan YES project was progressive, and was effective in meeting the socio-political interests and needs of the urban Latino/a Chicano/a youth of this community. The 13–17-year-old youth who participated in the program became critically conscious of the issues affecting their community, and afterward many became activists and led their own community transformation projects. The Omeyocan YES project is a reminder that leaders and youth, using a critical curriculum and revolutionary pedagogy, can transform themselves. The results of Omeyocan YES built the foundation for STPC Phase 2, which focused on community transformational resilience.
- Post, J. H., Hamelitz-lopez, G., Sierra-cajas, K., Romero, A. J., Romero, A. J., & Sierra-cajas, K. J. (2016). Breaking Down Silos Between Community-Based Organizations: Coalition Development. In Youth-Community Partnerships for Adolescent Alcohol Prevention(pp 85-105). Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-26030-3_5More infoThis chapter explores how community-based organizations broke down silos to work together and to form the South Tucson Prevention Coalition (STPC), whose goals were to prevent and decrease underage drinking in the City of South Tucson. Through the development of the STPC, distinct community groups were brought together toward a common cause. This led to significant changes in the way that community agencies and leaders saw their role within the larger community. It also involved organized collective efforts from numerous community members. This included long-term relationship- and trust building with a university researcher, sharing of resources by community agencies, the initiation of a shared funding source through a community-focused grant, and the dedication of all parties to the betterment of youth and the community at large. To understand the processes behind the events, we bring stories from leaders of the community-based organizations House of Neighborly Services (HNS) and the John Valenzuela Youth Center (JVYC). We explore how these organizations evolved from operating as independent silos to community partners. Through their stories, they demonstrate how critical consciousness contributed to the important breaking down of these silos so that they could work together toward a common cause.
- Romero, A. J., & Romero, A. J. (2016). Youth-Community Partnerships for Adolescent Alcohol Prevention: “We Can’t Do It Alone”. In Youth-Community Partnerships for Adolescent Alcohol Prevention. Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-26030-3_1More infoAdolescent alcohol use proves to be a continued challenge for public health, given that approximately 35 % of the USA’s high school age youth used alcohol in the past 30 days. This book describes an innovative collective approach to create community transformational resilience, which we define here as the ability of a community collective group to work together to transform ecological factors in order to limit risk factors and to promote protective factors. A low-income ethnic enclave community transformed themselves from a low level of community readiness rooted in denial and tolerance of adolescent alcohol use to institutionalization of community-level prevention activities. Over an 8-year period, the South Tucson Prevention Coalition evolved from Phase 1, building youth leadership and critical consciousness through after-school programs to Phase 2, building a youth-community coalition to change alcohol norms and alcohol availability. South Tucson Prevention Coalition was successful in developing a functioning coalition whose participatory action research led to critical consciousness of the environmental context surrounding adolescent alcohol use which spurred collective action for change.
- Romero, A. J., Meza, E., Ahumada, J., Cesena, O., Orduna, M., Urrea, M., & Quevedo, J. J. (2016). Preventing New Liquor Licenses Through Youth–Community Participatory Action Research. In Youth-Community Partnerships for Adolescent Alcohol Prevention. Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-26030-3_10More infoThis chapter examines how youth-led participatory action research to map the locations of liquor licenses in their city led to youth and adult collaboration to prevent new liquor licenses. Alcohol accessibility is a significant factor associated with adolescent alcohol use. Youth living in lower income neighborhoods often have higher than typical exposure to alcohol accessibility. In many ways, this chapter demonstrates how the South Tucson Prevention Coalition (STPC) worked together to create community transformational resilience because they were able to transform their environment in order to limit risk factors for adolescent alcohol use in a manner that would impact all youth in the city for many years. Their example demonstrates how a community can transform their environment to enhance opportunities for youth positive development and to limit exposure to risk factors.
- Romero, A. J., Meza, E., Ahumada, J., Orduna, M., & Quevedo, J. J. (2016). Community Transformational Resilience for Adolescent Alcohol Prevention. In Youth-Community Partnerships for Adolescent Alcohol Prevention(pp 257-270). Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-26030-3_12More infoThe purpose of this chapter is to summarize the work presented in this book about how South Tucson Prevention Coalition created community transformational resilience to prevent adolescent alcohol use. Community transformational resilience is the ability of a collective group to transform their community in a manner that increases protective factors and limits risk factors. Community was created through the building of a coalition based on personalismo (value of personal relationships and positive communication) that was comprised of youth, community members, university researchers, and outside agencies. Transformation was built through the process of participatory action research in order to ensure equal participation in dialogue to increase critical consciousness of societal factors for adolescent alcohol use that lead to community-led/youth-led research. Resilience was created because the coalition changed the community environment by increasing community norms of disapproval of adolescent alcohol use and by limiting access to alcohol. Understanding community levels of readiness for change was valuable to creating incremental, yet exponential changes over time to prevent adolescent alcohol use.
- Romero, A. J., Orduna, M., Hamelitz-lopez, G., Romero-ruiz, M., & Quevedo, J. J. (2016). Raising community awareness of alcohol norms through community events and media campaigns: South Tucson prevention coalition phase 2. In Youth-Community Partnerships for Adolescent Alcohol Prevention(pp 145-171). Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-26030-3_8More infoThe purpose of this chapter is to discuss the relevance of community norms for alcohol use when targeting prevention of adolescent alcohol use. During Phase 2, South Tucson Prevention Coalition (STPC) worked to raise community awareness of alcohol norms through biannual community-wide events and through a bilingual radio media campaign. This chapter also provides more insight into the way in which the coalition members utilized the Community Readiness Model for Change to help identify community norms and to match intervention strategies in order to target current community norms. Shifting community alcohol norms was one step to increase the community readiness for community transformation prevention strategies. Through the chronological presentation and analysis for coalition report summaries and public press releases, we analyze the important function of external funding, training of coalition members, and the way in which activities built on each other to reach a higher level of readiness that lead to community transformational resilience. We also demonstrate the importance of transparent communication, positive communication, and mission-oriented communication between the coalition, the community, and the local government.
- Romero, A. J., Romero, A. J., Anand, P., Ahumada, J., Blue, S., Hamelitz-lopez, G., Orduna, M., Romero-ruiz, M., Sierra-cajas, K., Sierra-cajas, K. J., & Quevedo, J. J. (2016). Community Readiness Stages of Change to Achieve Community Transformational Resilience. In Youth-Community Partnerships for Adolescent Alcohol Prevention(pp 237-256). Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-26030-3_2More infoThe Community Readiness Model for Change describes nine stages of incremental changes for community prevention. In this chapter, we utilize this model to describe 8 years of change led by South Tucson Prevention Coalition (STPC) that transformed one community from a level of tolerance of adolescent alcohol use to a level of professionalization of prevention strategies. This model helps to identify the incremental changes over time in community alcohol norms that indicate how ready the community is to receive different prevention strategies. The Community Readiness Model for Change requires community involvement to develop prevention strategies that are rooted in community strengths. This model also requires that the community assesses their own level of readiness for change in order to develop their capacity to determine the type and level of intervention that would be most appropriate. In this chapter, we describe the model and then apply it to 8 years of work by STPC to highlight changes in community alcohol norms, changes in prevention strategies, and integration of research techniques. Utilizing community readiness interviews and retrospective interviews with coalition members, we describe the community transformations that occurred.
- Romero, A. J., Romero, A. J., Anand, P., Fonseca, A. L., & Fonseca, A. L. (2016). Community–University Collaboration to Examine and Disseminate Local Research on Underage Drinking. In Youth-Community Partnerships for Adolescent Alcohol Prevention(pp 173-209). Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-26030-3_9More infoThe purpose of this chapter is to discuss the university and community collaboration efforts to collect new data on community alcohol norms. This chapter describes the challenges that exist for university collaborations in low income and ethnic minority communities. This chapter describes the use of participatory dialogue to build relationships and trust between university researchers and community members. The critical discussion about the flaws of regional, state and national data was an important process that raised awareness of community members about the need for local data collection. This process led to the community-led and community-created surveys. Participatory dialogue was utilized again to collaboratively analyze and interpret local survey findings for community alcohol norms and perception of alcohol accessibility for adolescents.
- Romero, A. J., Romero, A. J., Caporale, J., Caporale, J., Harris, R., Meza, E., Muraco, J. A., Muraco, J. A., & Post, J. H. (2016). Integrating Research into Prevention Strategies Using Participatory Action Research. In Youth-Community Partnerships for Adolescent Alcohol Prevention(pp 45-62). Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-26030-3_3More infoThis chapter describes the relevance of a participatory action research approach to working with marginalized communities because it emphasizes the equal involvement of community members in conceptualizing, conducting, and interpreting research. We describe the key principles of participatory action research that were implemented with South Tucson Prevention Coalition, including open dialogue, community-led research, and reflection linked to collective action. Given the importance of equal roles between researchers and community members, the university researchers who participated in South Tucson Prevention Coalition and the students who interviewed key stakeholders for purposes of this book provide their own subjective positionality statement to shed light on their own privileges, assumptions, and revelations gleaned from their work with South Tucson Prevention Coalition.
- Romero, A. J., Romero, A. J., Romero, A. J., Caporale, J., Caporale, J., Meza, E., Harris, R., Ahumada, J., Arrieta, J., Blue, S., Hamelitz-lopez, G., Orduna, M., Romero-ruiz, M., Sierra-cajas, K., Sierra-cajas, K. J., & Quevedo, J. J. (2016). Coalition as Conclusion: Building a Functioning Coalition. In Youth-Community Partnerships for Adolescent Alcohol Prevention(pp 237-256). Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-26030-3_11More infoThe purpose of this chapter is to describe the key factors that contributed to the creation, success, and sustainability of the South Tucson Prevention Coalition (STPC) over a period of 8 years. STPC was a diverse coalition whose goal was to prevent underage drinking in one city. Coalition members reflect on their success and describe four factors that contributed to their development. First, they describe how once they understood “We can’t do it alone”; their critical consciousness that adolescent alcohol use was influenced by societal context influenced their motivation to work with other agencies. Second, they describe the importance of having a central mission that brings agencies together with a common goal and common passion to help young people. Third, they describe operating guidelines of meetings that contributed to their empowerment. Lastly, they discuss how personalismo, the cultural value of prioritizing positive and trusting relationships, helped them connect with coalition members to sustain their involvement.
- Romero, A. J., & Oleary, A. M. (2014). When you know yourself yourself you are more confident: Resilience and stress of undergraduate students in the face of Anti-Ethnic Studies bills.. In Raza Studies: the Public Option for Educational Revolution.. Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press.
- Romero, A. J., Romero, A. J., & Oleary, A. M. (2014). “When you know yourself you’re more confident”: Resilience and stress of undergraduate students in the face of anti–ethnic studies bills. In Raza Studies: The Public Option for Educational Revolution. University of Arizona.
- Romero, A. J., Romero, A. J., Romero, A. J., Edwards, L. M., Ritter, M. K., & Bauman, S. A. (2014). La Llorona Calling: The Epidemic of Latina Adolescent Depressive Symptoms and Suicidality. In Prevention Adolescent Depression and Suicide Among Latinas(pp 1-9). Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-01381-7_1More infoWe discuss the 30-year epidemic of Latina adolescent depressive symptoms and suicide attempts by reclaiming the interpretation of epidemiological findings from a perspective that is focused on the strength and power of young women—rather than as victims of their class, culture, or families. Additionally, we include a review of recent literature of protective factors as well as risk factors, in order to focus on prevention efforts that may be consistent with Latina adolescents’ gendered and cultural roots. Our ultimate goal is to raise awareness among researchers, scholars, counselors, and prevention specialists about the public health issue of Latina adolescent depression and suicidality as a means to inspire new research and interventions that may save the lives of more young women in the future.
- Romero, A. J., Romero, A. J., Romero, A. J., Edwards, L. M., Ritter, M. K., & Bauman, S. A. (2014). Latina Adolescent Resilience Rooted Within Cultural Strengths. In Preventing Adolescent Depression and Suicide Among Latinas(pp 21-33). Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-01381-7_3More infoMany Latina adolescents cope effectively with stress and experience positive physical and mental health in spite of high levels of poverty, discrimination, bicultural stress, and lowered expectations. Understanding the resilience inherent in how these young Latinas “make it” is a critical component of prevention and intervention. In this chapter, we review the Multiracial Feminist Framework to identify macrosystem, mesosystem, and microsystem factors within a resilience perspective as a way to frame our discussion of protective factors and cultural strengths. As can be seen from this review of protective factors, researchers are only beginning to understand the possible resources that may help young Latinas prevent depression and suicide, such as cultural strengths (familism, biculturalism/bilingualism, spirituality, feminist consciousness), school connectedness, and individual factors (self-esteem, coping, socioemotional development).
- Romero, A. J., Romero, A. J., Romero, A. J., Edwards, L. M., Ritter, M. K., & Bauman, S. A. (2014). Reclaiming Malintzin: Healing and Preventing Latina Depression and Suicide. In Preventing Adolescent Depression and Suicide Among Latinas(pp 47-55). Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-01381-7_5More infoThe epidemic of Latina adolescent depression and suicide has not abated in 30 years, and today, there are still no Latina-specific prevention or treatment programs that are evidence-based. We offer in this chapter a summary of cutting-edge research findings and specific recommendations for researchers, clinicians, and schools. Latina young women are active and engaged in, reacting to, transforming, and subverting the world around them, as they have been doing for many generations. Clearly, the mental health of Latina young women is complex and influenced by many factors including those that might increase risks and those that are protective. In this book, we support a call to action that includes teens, parents, schools, service providers, clinicians, and policy makers to work together to address this issue through innovative prevention and intervention strategies.
- Romero, A. J., Romero, A. J., Romero, A. J., Edwards, L. M., Ritter, M. K., & Bauman, S. A. (2014). Risk Factors for Latina Adolescents’ Mental Health and Well-Being. In Preventing Adolescent Depression and Suicide Among Latinas. Springer, Cham. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-01381-7_4More infoUnderstanding how various risk factors influence the decision to take one’s own life is a critical aspect of being able to plan and implement effective prevention programs, interventions, and recovery treatments. We take an ecodevelopmental approach to understand multiple levels of ecological risk, so that we can really understand Latina teens within the U.S. context of negative stereotypes and strict immigration enforcement policies that may increase discrimination and family separation. Latina teens may encounter stressors that are atypical compared to other U.S. adolescents. Many studies have identified family as central to the perceptions of Latina teens; however, when families face unusual distress or conflict, it can lead to extreme actions by Latinas, including suicide ideation, plans, and attempts. A handful of studies also suggest that being a victim and bully contributes to suicidal ideation among Latina adolescents, as does dating violence. Lastly, alcohol and substance use have often been overlooked in suicide research, but it appears from national studies that there may be a link between substance use and Latina adolescent suicidal behaviors, which deserves further investigation.
- Romero, A. J., Romero, A. J., Romero, A. J., Edwards, L. M., Ritter, M. K., & Bauman, S. A. (2014). What Drove Her to Do It? Theories of Depression and Suicide. In Preventing Adolescent Depression and Suicide Among Latinas. Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-01381-7_2More infoIn Chap. 2, psychosocial theories are presented that provide the most promise for understanding and treating young Latinas. We begin with the theories that focus on depression (cognitive behavioral therapy and acculturative stress models) and then move onto theories that are specific to suicidal behavior, including the interpersonal theory of suicide and Zayas’s ecodevelopmental model. Depression is one of the leading risk indicators for suicide. Over the life course, people with untreated depression have a nearly 20 % risk of suicide; about two-thirds (2/3) of people who commit suicide are believed to be depressed at the time of their deaths. Depression was the most robust predictor of suicidality in a sample of urban Latino and Black adolescents. Any theory that increases our understanding of suicidal thoughts and behaviors among Latina adolescents should take into account depression as a precursor.
- Romero, A. J., & O'Leary, A. O. (2014). When you know yourself yourself you are more confident: Resilience and stress of undergraduate students in the face of Anti-Ethnic Studies bills.. In Raza Studies: the Public Option for Educational Revolution.(pp 91-106). Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press.More infoFor this submission, we rely on a study of the type of responses young adults, Latinos and non-Latino Whites, had to the proposal of Arizona's SB 1108, the Anti-Ethnic Studies Bill of 2008. We take a stress and coping approach to measuring and understanding youth strategies in response this bill, and how those responses are associated with self-esteem and depressive symptoms among undergraduate students.
- Romero, A. J., Edwards, L., & Corkery, S. (2013). Assessing and treating Latinos: Overview of mental health research. In Handbook of multicultural mental health: Assessment and treatment of diverse populations. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
- Romero, A. J., O'Leary, A. O., Romero, A. J., O'Leary, A. O., Romero, A. J., O'Leary, A. O., Romero, A. J., & O'Leary, A. O. (2014). When you know yourself yourself you are more confident: Resilience and stress of undergraduate students in the face of Anti-Ethnic Studies bills.. In Raza Studies: the Public Option for Educational Revolution.(p. 15). Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press.More infoFor this submission, we rely on a study of the type of responses young adults, Latinos and non-Latino Whites, had to the proposal of Arizona's SB 1108, the Anti-Ethnic Studies Bill of 2008. We take a stress and coping approach to measuring and understanding youth strategies in response this bill, and how those responses are associated with self-esteem and depressive symptoms among undergraduate students.
- Romero, A. J., Cabrera, ., & Rascon, . (2012). Assault on Ethnic Studies. Rowman & Littlefield.More info;Your Role: I wrote, edited, and help with analysis. ;Full Citation: O'Leary, A.O., Romero, A.J. Cabrera, N. & Rascón, M..++ (2012). Assault on Ethnic Studies. In O. Santa Ana. & C. González de Bustamante. (Eds.) Arizona firestorm: Global immigration realities, national media & provincial politics (pp. 97-120). Lanham, MD and New York: Rowman & Littlefield. (Invited chapter);Collaborative with undergraduate student: Yes;Collaborative with faculty member in unit: Yes;Collaborative with faculty member at UA: Yes;
- Romero, A. &., & Edwards, L. (2011). Latina Adolescent Resiliency: Positive Effects of Gender, Family, and Culture on Mental Health.More info;Your Role: Primary author;Full Citation: Romero, A.J. & Edwards, L. (2011). Latina Adolescent Resiliency: Positive Effects of Gender, Family, and Culture on Mental Health. In Villaruel, F. & Cabrera, N. (Ed.). Latinos and mental health.;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: colleague at Marquette University;
- Romero, A. &., & Van, C. K. (2011). Bicultural Stress. Springer.More infoThis was an invited chapter that summarizes my contribution of the new concept of bicultural stress and the work from other researchers that has developed in this area.;Your Role: primary author;Full Citation: Romero, A.J. & Van Campen, K. (2011). Bicultural Stress. In R.J. Levesque (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Adolescence. New York, New York: Springer.;Collaborative with graduate student: Yes;
- Russell, S. &., & Romero, A. J. (2011). Sexual Orientation and Identity in Latino/a Youth:Implications for Mental Health.More info;Your Role: secondary author, contributed lit review for a few sections and wrote 30% of chapter.;Full Citation: Russell, S. & Romero, A.J. (2011). Sexual Orientation and Identity in Latino/a Youth:Implications for Mental Health. In Villaruel, F. & Cabrera, N. (Ed.). Latinos and mental health.;Collaborative with faculty member in unit: Yes;
- Romero, A. J. (2008). Orthogonal cultural identification theory.. In Encyclopedia of Counseling: Volume Four: Cross Cultural Counseling.. Springer.More infoThis is a theoretical review of acculturation and identity theory that I was invited to write. ;Your Role: sole author;
- Romero, A. J. (2010). Orthogonal cultural identification theory.. In Encyclopedia of Counseling: Volume Four: Cross Cultural Counseling.. Sage Publications.More infoThis is a theoretical review of acculturation and identity theory that I was invited to write. ;Your Role: sole author;
- Romero, A. J., & Romero, A. J. (2000). Assessing and Treating Latinos: Overview of Research. In Handbook of Multicultural Mental Health(pp 209-223). Academic Press. doi:10.1016/B978-012199370-2/50012-2More infoPublisher Summary This chapter presents an overview of research on cultural theories and mental health in the Latino community. Discussion argues that current conceptualizations of cultural models may help the mental health services communities move beyond stereotypes and oversimplifications of the Latino culture. The measurement of cultural constructs is discussed in order to understand how to assess individuals as cultural beings. Further, recommendations for when and how to tailor diagnosis and treatment to be culturally appropriate are provided. The chapter also argues that culture is a social element that permeates every aspect of an individual, and so, it is crucial to understand culture and its influences. Moreover, if one is to be guided by a truly comprehensive biopsychosocial model of health research, one needs to begin to take into account not only the patients, but also their social context, such as socioeconomic and sociocultural stressors. Individual, group, and cultural differences should be an essential and systematic aspect of applying principles of human behavior to promote wellness.
Journals/Publications
- Marquez, A., Navarro Benavides, V., Rascón-Canales, M., & Romero, A. (2023).
"Trump can take away your status but he can't take away your education": a qualitative study of students in higher education following the DACA rescission announcement
. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 1-13. doi:10.1080/09518398.2023.2181418 - Bouwma-Gearhart, J., Bratsch-Prince, D., Brown, S. A., Campbell, A. L., Carter, R. G., Egeren, L. A., Hartman, J. C., Hasemann, C. A., Hollenbeck, P. J., Lupiani, B., McCarty, O. J., McClure, I., Mealey, K. L., Mimura, C., Mundorff, K., Risien, J., Romero, A. J., & Sztajn, P. (2021).
Innovation, entrepreneurship, promotion, and tenure
. Science, 373(6561), 1312-1314. doi:10.1126/science.abj2098More infoAcademic incentives must reward broader societal impacts. - Romero, A. J., Shramko, M., Romero, A. J., Pech, A., Macias, D., & Encinias, V. (2021). Counterstory methodology in a university-high school collaboration to center and humanize Latina/o voices.. Journal of community psychology, 49(5), 1436-1456. doi:10.1002/jcop.22496More infoEducational environments can often feel hostile and inequitable for Latina/o students and teachers, with limited resources and support to humanize their experiences. Counterstorytelling methodologies can be used by students and teachers to center lived experiences, contest deficit narratives, and uncover community cultural wealth (CCW). Drawing on a CCW lens, situated in critical race theory and Latina/o critical theory, we examine a university-high school service learning collaboration in an urban setting that focused on educational equity and counterstorytelling (5 high school classes, 80 students, and 1 teacher; 1 university class, 29 undergraduates, 1 graduate student, and 1 university professor) using ethnographic observations and reflections. In a context of relationship building and discussions of educational equity across the university-high school partnership, we engaged in a counterstorytelling process that uncovered existing CCW and helped to cultivate positive relational pedagogy (social capital) and college going culture (aspirational and navigational capital) and fostered critical reflection and hope (resistant capital). Centering the unique knowledge of students can allow the teacher to facilitate a more equitable learning environment that acknowledges students' resilience.
- Shramko, M., Romero, A. J., Pech, A., Macias, D., & Encinias, V. (2021). Counterstory methodology in a university-high school collaboration to center and humanize Latina/o voices.. Journal of community psychology. doi:10.1002/jcop.22496More infoEducational environments can often feel hostile and inequitable for Latina/o students and teachers, with limited resources and support to humanize their experiences. Counterstorytelling methodologies can be used by students and teachers to center lived experiences, contest deficit narratives, and uncover community cultural wealth (CCW). Drawing on a CCW lens, situated in critical race theory and Latina/o critical theory, we examine a university-high school service learning collaboration in an urban setting that focused on educational equity and counterstorytelling (5 high school classes, 80 students, and 1 teacher; 1 university class, 29 undergraduates, 1 graduate student, and 1 university professor) using ethnographic observations and reflections. In a context of relationship building and discussions of educational equity across the university-high school partnership, we engaged in a counterstorytelling process that uncovered existing CCW and helped to cultivate positive relational pedagogy (social capital) and college going culture (aspirational and navigational capital) and fostered critical reflection and hope (resistant capital). Centering the unique knowledge of students can allow the teacher to facilitate a more equitable learning environment that acknowledges students' resilience.
- Sztajn, P., Romero, A. J., Risien, J., Mundorff, K., Mimura, C., Mealey, K., Mcclure, I. D., Mccarty, O. J., Lupiani, B., Hollenbeck, P. J., Hasemann, C. A., Hartman, J. C., Egeren, L. V., Carter, R. G., Campbell, A. L., Brown, S. A., Bratsch-prince, D., & Bouwma-gearhart, J. (2021). Innovation, entrepreneurship, promotion, and tenure.. Science (New York, N.Y.), 373(6561), 1312-1314. doi:10.1126/science.abj2098More info[Figure: see text].
- Wagner, P., Romero, A. J., Wagner, P., Thienhaus, O. J., Schlager, E., Romero, A. J., Miller, R. C., Liaupsin, C., Erstad, B. L., & Brazeau, G. A. (2021). Equity for and Inclusion of Non-Tenure-Track Pharmacy Faculty Within Academia.. American journal of pharmaceutical education, 85(3), 8428. doi:10.5688/ajpe8428More infoAlthough there are at least twice as many non-tenure-track first-time pharmacy faculty as tenured and tenure-track first-time pharmacy faculty entering academia based on data collected from 2013 to 2019, there are ongoing equity, inclusion, and advancement issues between these categories of faculty that require consideration. Contracts with clear descriptions of responsibilities are needed along with regular evaluations and promotion opportunities based on the faculty member's performance of the assigned responsibilities, appropriate compensation including fringe benefits, inclusion in institutional voting and governance, and due process protections against abrupt termination. Further, universities and schools and colleges of pharmacy should foster a culture that values all faculty regardless of rank or position. The purpose of this commentary is to describe ongoing efforts and lessons learned by one public university with a college of pharmacy that has non-tenure-track and tenure-track faculty. Our hope is to provide insight into how these experiences could be used as a basis to inform changes in policy by other universities with a school or college of pharmacy, as well as to inform possible changes to the Academy's policies.
- Wagner, P., Thienhaus, O. J., Schlager, E., Romero, A. J., Miller, R. C., Liaupsin, C., Erstad, B. L., & Brazeau, G. A. (2021). Equity for and Inclusion of Non-Tenure-Track Pharmacy Faculty Within Academia. The American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 85(3). doi:10.5688/ajpe8428More infoAlthough there are at least twice as many non-tenure-track first-time pharmacy faculty as tenured and tenure-track first-time pharmacy faculty entering academia based on data collected from 2013 to 2019, there are ongoing equity, inclusion, and advancement issues between these categories of faculty that require consideration. Contracts with clear descriptions of responsibilities are needed along with regular evaluations and promotion opportunities based on the faculty member’s performance of the assigned responsibilities, appropriate compensation including fringe benefits, inclusion in institutional voting and governance, and due process protections against abrupt termination. Further, universities and schools and colleges of pharmacy should foster a culture that values all faculty regardless of rank or position. The purpose of this commentary is to describe ongoing efforts and lessons learned by one public university with a college of pharmacy that has non-tenure-track and tenure-track faculty. Our hope is to provide insight into how these experiences could be used as a basis to inform changes in policy by other universities with a school or college of pharmacy, as well as to inform possible changes to the Academy’s policies.
- Caporale, J., Romero, A. J., Valencia, B. G., Romero, A. J., & Caporale, J. (2020). “I had (my dreams) on hold, I had to . . .”: Mexican Descent Youth Discuss Factors That Lead to Leaving High School:. Urban Education, 004208592090986. doi:10.1177/0042085920909869More infoDespite Latinx students having the second highest rates of dropouts compared with other racial/ethnic groups, few studies qualitatively examine how Latinx youth view the academic and family context...
- Pech, A. S., Valencia, B. G., Romero, A. J., Valencia, B. G., Romero, A. J., & Pech, A. S. (2020). Reflections from novice youth participatory action researchers: Emphasis on critical gender perspectives.. Journal of community psychology, 48(2), 302-322. doi:10.1002/jcop.22253More infoRooted in multiracial feminist theory, this research investigated the roles of adults engaged in youth participatory action research (YPAR) projects focused on developing critical perspectives of gender, power, and critical hope with the youth of color. Across 10 weeks, two novice adult facilitators documented ethnographic observations (i.e., voice memos) of their experiences collaborating with youth in YPAR. Voice memos were transcribed and coded for emergent themes. Our findings highlight how we deconstructed adultism, prioritized humanizing youth, and integrated critical gender perspectives to understand gender as a mechanism of systemic oppression. Our purpose was to capture moments of breakthroughs, realizations, and tensions as scholars contending with inexperience in YPAR and share our journey with other researchers interested in YPAR. We provide recommendations for adults to develop pathways towards humanity for the youth of color, collective resistance and take social justice action steps towards a critically hopeful future.
- Zamboanga, B. L., Villamar, J. A., Unger, J. B., Szapocznik, J., Stevens, A. K., Soto, D. W., Schwartz, S. J., Rosiers, S. E., Romero, A. J., Pina-watson, B., Pattarroyo, M., Oshri, A., Meca, A., Lorenzo-blanco, E. I., Lizzi, K. M., Cordova, D., Cano, M. A., & Baezconde-garbanati, L. (2020). Disentangling relationships between bicultural stress and mental well-being among Latinx immigrant adolescents.. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 88(2), 149-159. doi:10.1037/ccp0000466More infoThe Acculturative Process and Context Framework (Ward & Geeraert, 2016) proposes that acculturative stressors influence psychological well-being over time. In fact, extant literature has linked bicultural stress with psychological functioning; yet, no studies have explored the causal dominance of bicultural stress. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the directionality of prospective relations among bicultural stress and psychosocial functioning (i.e., depressive symptoms, hopefulness, and self-esteem) in Latinx immigrant adolescents across 5 waves..There were 303 Latinx adolescents who were recruited for this study from Los Angeles and Miami and were assessed across 5 waves at 6-month intervals. Adolescents were 14.50 years old on average (SD = .88) and 53.16% were male. Adolescents reported living in the United States for 2.07 years on average (SD = 1.87). A Random-Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Model (RI-CLPM) was used to examine the between- and within-person relations among bicultural stress, depressive symptoms, hopefulness, and self-esteem in a comprehensive model..The comprehensive RI-CLPM including bicultural stress, depressive symptoms, hopefulness, and self-esteem exhibited excellent model fit. Between-person, trait-like relations among constructs ranged from small to large, as expected. Within-person, cross-lagged estimates among constructs were overall inconsistent, with some evidence that, within individuals, self-esteem influences later hopefulness..Findings from this study indicate that the RI-CLPM is an effective strategy to examine bicultural stress and well-being processes among adolescents. There is a need for further research examining bicultural stress among Latinx immigrant youth, particularly within prevention and intervention studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
- Carvajal, S. C., Carvajal, S. C., Carvajal, S. C., Rosales, C. B., Rubio-goldsmith, R., Sabo, S., Sabo, S. J., Ingram, M., Mcclelland, D. J., Redondo, F., Torres, E., Romero, A. J., Romero, A. J., Romero, A. J., O'leary, A. O., Sanchez, Z., Zapien, J. G., Zapien, J. G., O'leary, A. O., & Mcclelland, D. J. (2019). Border Community Immigration Stress Scale. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health. doi:10.1037/T71802-000
- Gomez, R. F., Rascon-Canales, M., & Romero, A. J. (2019). We See You Hermana — At All Your Powerful Intersections! The White Racial Framing of Serena Williams. The Journal of Latinx Talk.More infoInformed commentary.
- Romero, A. J. (2019). A pilot test of the Latin active hip hop intervention to increase physical activity among low-income Mexican-American adolescents. American journal of health promotion : AJHP, 26(4), 208-11.More infoThe primary purpose of the current study was to develop, implement, and evaluate a hip hop dance intervention, Latin Active, among low-income Mexican-American adolescents. Mexican-descent adolescents tend to have disproportionate rates of low physical activity, overweight status, and obesity.
- Romero, A. J., Bauman, S., Borgstrom, M., & Kim, S. E. (2019). Examining suicidality, bullying, and gun carrying among Latina/o youth over 10 years. The American journal of orthopsychiatry, 88(4), 450-461.More infoLatino/a youth have reported the highest rates of suicide attempts compared to White and African American youth for over 40 years. The data from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) cross-sectional subsamples of Latino/a youth (N = 13,378) at every year of data collection between 2005 and 2015 were examined for bullying, gun carrying, and suicidality. Results indicate that Latina girls are significantly more likely than boys to make a suicide attempt and report more bullying and more cyberbullying, but are less likely to carry a gun. Being bullied or carrying a gun were significantly associated with greater likelihood of suicide attempt among both boys and girls. Youth who carried a gun overall had higher rates of suicide attempts whether they were bullied or not, whereas youth who did not carry a gun were significantly more likely to attempt suicide if they were bullied. Over the past 10 years, gun carrying has decreased significantly for Latino boys and suicide attempts have decreased significantly for Latina girls. Findings have important implications of considering intersections of race and gender when developing antibullying and suicide prevention strategies. There are important policy implications for considering the mental well-being of youth who are caught carrying guns at school and considering that victimization varies by ethnicity and gender. (PsycINFO Database Record
- Romero, A. J., Pina-watson, B., Ojeda, L., & Navarro, R. L. (2019). Bicultural stress, coping, and psychological functioning among Mexican-descent and White college students.. Journal of clinical psychology, 75(7), 1249-1266. doi:10.1002/jclp.22767More infoThe present study investigates associations between bicultural stress, coping, and responses to stress (RTS) in relation to depressive symptoms and self-esteem for Mexican-descent and non-Latinx White college students..With a sample of 268 Mexican-descent and non-Latinx White college students, two multiple-mediation path models and two moderation models are examined..The hypothesized mediation models were both supported indicating higher bicultural stress is associated with higher reporting of engaged and disengaged forms of coping and RTS. Engaged coping was associated with mental health resiliency while disengaged coping and RTS contributed to vulnerability. Disengaged and secondary engaged coping were mediators in the depressive symptoms and self-esteem models. In terms of moderation, disengaged coping and RTS were both moderators in the bicultural stress-depressive symptoms relationships..College students' reactions to bicultural stress may either promote mental health resiliency through engaged strategies or increase vulnerability through disengaged coping and involuntary RTS.
- Zamboanga, B. L., Villamar, J. A., Unger, J. B., Szapocznik, J., Soto, D. W., Schwartz, S. J., Rosiers, S. E., Romero, A. J., Pina-watson, B., Pattarroyo, M., Meca, A., Lorenzo-blanco, E. I., Lizzi, K. M., Cordova, D., & Cano, M. A. (2019). Longitudinal Trajectories of Family Functioning Among Recent Immigrant Adolescents and Parents: Links With Adolescent and Parent Cultural Stress, Emotional Well-Being, and Behavioral Health.. Child development, 90(2), 506-523. doi:10.1111/cdev.12914More infoThis study examined longitudinal effects of adolescent and parent cultural stress on adolescent and parent emotional well-being and health behaviors via trajectories of adolescent and parent family functioning. Recent immigrant Latino adolescents (Mage = 14.51) and parents (Mage = 41.09; N = 302) completed measures of these constructs. Latent growth modeling indicated that adolescent and parent family functioning remained stable over time. Early levels of family functioning predicted adolescent and parent outcomes. Baseline adolescent cultural stress predicted lower positive adolescent and parent family functioning. Latent class growth analyses produced a two-class solution for family functioning. Adolescents and parents in the low family functioning class reported low family functioning over time. Adolescents and parents in the high family functioning class experienced increases in family functioning.
- Kim, S., Bauman, S. A., & Romero, A. J. (2018). Examining suicidality, bullying, and gun carrying among Latina/o youth over 10 years.. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 88(4),(4), 450-.More infoRomero, A., Bauman, S., Kim, S.E., (2018). Ten-Year Trends in Suicidality, Bullying and Gun Carrying Among Latino Youth. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 88(4), 450-
- Romero, A. J., & Umana-Taylor, A. (2018). Introduction to special issue on research methods and design considerations with Latinx populations.. Journal of Latina/o Psychology,, 6(4),(4), 259.More infoRomero, A. J., & Umaña-Taylor, A. J. (2018). Introduction to special issue on research methods and design considerations with Latinx populations. Journal of Latina/o Psychology, 6(4), 259.
- Romero, A. J., & Umaña-Taylor, A. J. (2018). Special Issue: Research Methods and Design Considerations With Latinx Populations. Journal of Latina/o Psychology, 6(4), 259-263. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/lat0000124
- Lorenzo-Blanco, E. I., Meca, A., Piña-Watson, B., Zamboanga, B. L., Szapocznik, J., Cano, M. Á., Cordova, D., Unger, J. B., Romero, A., Des Rosiers, S. E., Soto, D. W., Villamar, J. A., Pattarroyo, M., Lizzi, K. M., & Schwartz, S. J. (2017). Longitudinal Trajectories of Family Functioning Among Recent Immigrant Adolescents and Parents: Links With Adolescent and Parent Cultural Stress, Emotional Well-Being, and Behavioral Health. Child development.More infoThis study examined longitudinal effects of adolescent and parent cultural stress on adolescent and parent emotional well-being and health behaviors via trajectories of adolescent and parent family functioning. Recent immigrant Latino adolescents (M = 14.51) and parents (M = 41.09; N = 302) completed measures of these constructs. Latent growth modeling indicated that adolescent and parent family functioning remained stable over time. Early levels of family functioning predicted adolescent and parent outcomes. Baseline adolescent cultural stress predicted lower positive adolescent and parent family functioning. Latent class growth analyses produced a two-class solution for family functioning. Adolescents and parents in the low family functioning class reported low family functioning over time. Adolescents and parents in the high family functioning class experienced increases in family functioning.
- Lorenzo-Blanco, E. I., Meca, A., Unger, J. B., Romero, A., Szapocznik, J., Piña-Watson, B., Cano, M. Á., Zamboanga, B. L., Baezconde-Garbanati, L., Des Rosiers, S. E., Soto, D. W., Villamar, J. A., Lizzi, K. M., Pattarroyo, M., & Schwartz, S. J. (2017). Longitudinal Effects of Latino Parent Cultural Stress, Depressive Symptoms, and Family Functioning on Youth Emotional Well-Being and Health Risk Behaviors. Family process, 56(4), 981-996.More infoU.S. Latino parents can face cultural stressors in the form of acculturative stress, perceived discrimination, and a negative context of reception. It stands to reason that these cultural stressors may negatively impact Latino youth's emotional well-being and health risk behaviors by increasing parents' depressive symptoms and compromising the overall functioning of the family. To test this possibility, we analyzed data from a six-wave longitudinal study with 302 recently immigrated (
- Lorenzo-Blanco, E., Romero, A. J., Unger, J., & Mecca, A. (2017). Longitudinal effects of Latino parent cultural stress, depressive symptoms, and family functioning on youth emotional well‐being and health risk behaviors.. Family Process, 64(4), 981-996.More infoRC1
- Romero, A. J. (2017). Collective Efficacy for Community Change in Response to Immigrant Stigma Stress. Aztlan, 42(1), 19-44.More infoRC1The other authors on this one are Dr. Anna O'leary, Monica Anguas (former student) and Rebecca Covarrubias (former student)
- Romero, A. J., & Tellez, M. (2017). Lessons from Ethnic Studies on Strategic Courage. Mujeres Talk Blog. https://library.osu.edu/blogs/mujerestalk/2017/01/10/ethnic-studies-in-2017/ (invited). Mujeres Talk - now Latinx TAlk. doi:https://library.osu.edu/blogs/mujerestalk/2017/01/10/ethnic-studies-in-2017/More infoThis was an invited contribution to an on-line publication for interdisciplinary work. It was invited and peer -reviewedRC1
- Romero, A. J., Bauman, S. A., Ritter, M., & Anand, P. (2017). The Influence of Gun Carrying and Bullying on Adolescent Suicidal Behaviors:. Journal of School Violence, 16(4), 445-458. doi:10.1080/15388220.2016.1190933More infoRC1Marissa and Payal are students of mine.
- Romero, A. J., Pina-Watson, B., & Toomey, R. B. (2018). When is bicultural stress associated with loss of hope and depressive symptoms? Variations by ethnic identity status among Mexican descent youth. Journal of Latina/o Psychology, 6(1), 49-63. doi:10.1037/lat0000078More infoRC1
- Schwartz, S. J., Unger, J. B., Meca, A., Lorenzo-Blanco, E. I., Baezconde-Garbanati, L., Cano, M. Á., Piña-Watson, B., Szapocznik, J., Zamboanga, B. L., Córdova, D., Romero, A. J., Lee, T. K., Soto, D. W., Villamar, J. A., Lizzi, K. M., Des Rosiers, S. E., & Pattarroyo, M. (2017). Erratum to: Personal Identity Development in Hispanic Immigrant Adolescents: Links with Positive Psychosocial Functioning, Depressive Symptoms, and Externalizing Problems. Journal of youth and adolescence, 46(4), 914-915.
- Seth, S. J., Jen, U. B., E., L., L, B., M, C., B, P., J, S., B, Z., D, C., & Romero, A. J. (2017). Personal identity development in Hispanic immigrant adolescents: Links with positive psychosocial functioning, depressive symptoms, and externalizing problems.. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 46(4), 898-913.More infoRC1
- Anand, P., Bauman, S., Ritter, M., & Romero, A. (2016).
Examining Adolescent Suicidal Behaviors in Relation to Gun Carrying and Bullying
. Journal of School Violence, 16(4), 445-458. doi:10.1080/15388220.2016.1190933 - Baezconde-Garbanati, L., Cano, M. Á., Des Rosiers, S. E., Lizzi, K. M., Lorenzo-Blanco, E. I., Meca, A., Pattarroyo, M., Piña-Watson, B., Romero, A., Schwartz, S. J., Soto, D. W., Szapocznik, J., Unger, J. B., Villamar, J. A., & Zamboanga, B. L. (2016).
Longitudinal Effects of Latino Parent Cultural Stress, Depressive Symptoms, and Family Functioning on Youth Emotional Well-Being and Health Risk Behaviors
. Family Process, 56(4), 981-996. doi:10.1111/famp.12258 - Cano, M. A., Schwartz, S. J., Castillo, L. G., Unger, J. B., Huang, S., Zamboanga, B. L., Romero, A. J., Lorenzo-Blanco, E. I., Cordova, D., Des, R., Lizzi, K. M., Baezconde-Garbanati, L., Soto, D. W., Villamar, J. A., Pattarroyo, M., & Szapocznik, J. (2016). Health Risk Behaviors and Depressive Symptoms Among Hispanic Adolescents: Examining Acculturation Discrepancies and Family Functioning. JOURNAL OF FAMILY PSYCHOLOGY, 30(2), 254-265.
- Cano, M. Á., Schwartz, S. J., Castillo, L. G., Unger, J. B., Huang, S., Zamboanga, B. L., Romero, A. J., Lorenzo-Blanco, E. I., Córdova, D., Des Rosiers, S. E., Lizzi, K. M., Baezconde-Garbanati, L., Soto, D. W., Villamar, J. A., Pattarroyo, M., & Szapocznik, J. (2016). Health risk behaviors and depressive symptoms among Hispanic adolescents: Examining acculturation discrepancies and family functioning. Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43), 30(2), 254-265.More infoDrawing from a theory of bicultural family functioning 2 models were tested to examine the longitudinal effects of acculturation-related variables on adolescent health risk behaviors and depressive symptoms (HRB/DS) mediated by caregiver and adolescent reports of family functioning. One model examined the effects of caregiver-adolescent acculturation discrepancies in relation to family functioning and HRB/DS. A second model examined the individual effects of caregiver and adolescent acculturation components in relation to family functioning and HRB/DS. A sample of 302 recently immigrated Hispanic caregiver-child dyads completed measures of Hispanic and U.S. cultural practices, values, and identities at baseline (predictors); measures of family cohesion, family communications, and family involvement 6 months postbaseline (mediators); and only adolescents completed measures of smoking, binge drinking, inconsistent condom use, and depressive symptoms 1 year postbaseline (outcomes). Measures of family cohesion, family communications, and family involvement were used to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis to estimate the fit of a latent construct for family functioning. Key findings indicate that (a) adolescent acculturation components drove the effect of caregiver-adolescent acculturation discrepancies in relation to family functioning; (b) higher levels of adolescent family functioning were associated with less HRB/DS, whereas higher levels of caregiver family functioning were associated with more adolescent HRB/DS; (c) and only adolescent reports of family functioning mediated the effects of acculturation components and caregiver-adolescent acculturation discrepancies on HRB/DS.
- Cordova, D., Schwartz, S. J., Unger, J. B., Baezconde-Garbanati, L., Villamar, J. A., Soto, D. W., Des, R., Lee, T. K., Meca, A., Cano, M. A., Lorenzo-Blanco, E. I., Oshri, A., Salas-Wright, C. P., Pina-Watson, B., & Romero, A. J. (2016). A Longitudinal Test of the Parent-Adolescent Family Functioning Discrepancy Hypothesis: A Trend toward Increased HIV Risk Behaviors Among Immigrant Hispanic Adolescents. JOURNAL OF YOUTH AND ADOLESCENCE, 45(10), 2164-2177.
- Córdova, D., Schwartz, S. J., Unger, J. B., Baezconde-Garbanati, L., Villamar, J. A., Soto, D. W., Des Rosiers, S. E., Lee, T. K., Meca, A., Cano, M. Á., Lorenzo-Blanco, E. I., Oshri, A., Salas-Wright, C. P., Piña-Watson, B., & Romero, A. J. (2016). A Longitudinal Test of the Parent-Adolescent Family Functioning Discrepancy Hypothesis: A Trend toward Increased HIV Risk Behaviors Among Immigrant Hispanic Adolescents. Journal of youth and adolescence, 45(10), 2164-77.More infoParent-adolescent discrepancies in family functioning play an important role in HIV risk behaviors among adolescents, yet longitudinal research with recent immigrant Hispanic families remains limited. This study tested the effects of trajectories of parent-adolescent family functioning discrepancies on HIV risk behaviors among recent-immigrant Hispanic adolescents. Additionally, we examined whether and to what extent trajectories of parent-adolescent family functioning discrepancies vary as a function of gender. We assessed family functioning of 302 Hispanic adolescents (47 % female) and their parent (70 % female) at six time points over a three-year period and computed latent discrepancy scores between parent and adolescent reports at each timepoint. Additionally, adolescents completed measures of sexual risk behaviors and alcohol use. We conducted a confirmatory factor analysis to determine the feasibility of collapsing parent and adolescent reported family functioning indicators onto a single latent discrepancy variable, tested model invariance over time, and conducted growth mixture modeling (GMM). GMM yielded a three-class solution for discrepancies: High-Increasing, High-Stable, and Low-Stable. Relative to the Low-Stable class, parent-adolescent dyads in the High-Increasing and High-Stable classes were at greater risk for adolescents reporting sexual debut at time 6. Additionally, the High-Stable class was at greater risk, relative to the Low-Stable class, in terms of adolescent lifetime alcohol use at 30 months post-baseline. Multiple group GMM indicated that trajectories of parent-adolescent family functioning trajectories did not vary by gender. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
- Lorenzo-Blanco, E. I., Meca, A., Unger, J. B., Romero, A., Gonzales-Backen, M., Pina-Watson, B., Cano, M. A., Zamboanga, B. L., Des, R., Soto, D. W., Villamar, J. A., Lizzi, K. M., Pattarroyo, M., & Schwartz, S. J. (2016). Latino Parent Acculturation Stress: Longitudinal Effects on Family Functioning and Youth Emotional and Behavioral Health. JOURNAL OF FAMILY PSYCHOLOGY, 30(8), 966-976.
- Lorenzo-Blanco, E. I., Meca, A., Unger, J. B., Romero, A., Gonzales-Backen, M., Piña-Watson, B., Cano, M. Á., Zamboanga, B. L., Des Rosiers, S. E., Soto, D. W., Villamar, J. A., Lizzi, K. M., Pattarroyo, M., & Schwartz, S. J. (2016). Latino parent acculturation stress: Longitudinal effects on family functioning and youth emotional and behavioral health. Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43), 30(8), 966-976.More infoLatino parents can experience acculturation stressors, and according to the Family Stress Model (FSM), parent stress can influence youth mental health and substance use by negatively affecting family functioning. To understand how acculturation stressors come together and unfold over time to influence youth mental health and substance use outcomes, the current study investigated the trajectory of a latent parent acculturation stress factor and its influence on youth mental health and substance use via parent-and youth-reported family functioning. Data came from a 6-wave, school-based survey with 302 recent (
- Lorenzo-Blanco, E. I., Schwartz, S. J., Unger, J. B., Romero, A. J., Cano, M. A., Baezconde-Garbanati, L., Cordova, D., Oshri, A., Santisteban, D. A., Des, R., Huang, S., Villamar, J. A., Soto, D., & Pattarroyo, M. (2016). A process-oriented analysis of parent acculturation, parent socio-cultural stress, family processes, and Latina/o youth smoking and depressive symptoms. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTERCULTURAL RELATIONS, 52, 60-71.
- Cano, M. A., Schwartz, S. J., Castillo, L. G., Romero, A. J., Huang, S., Lorenzo-Blanco, E. I., Unger, J. B., Zamboanga, B. L., Rosiers, S., Baezconde-Garbanati, L., Lizzi, K. M., Soto, D. W., Oshri, A., Villamar, J. A., Pattarroyo, M., & Szapocznik, J. (2015). Depressive symptoms and externalizing behaviors among Hispanic immigrant adolescents: Examining longitudinal effects of cultural stress. JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENCE, 42, 31-39.
- Cano, M. Á., Schwartz, S. J., Castillo, L. G., Romero, A. J., Huang, S., Lorenzo-Blanco, E. I., Unger, J. B., Zamboanga, B. L., Des Rosiers, S. E., Baezconde-Garbanati, L., Lizzi, K. M., Soto, D. W., Oshri, A., Villamar, J. A., Pattarroyo, M., & Szapocznik, J. (2015). Depressive symptoms and externalizing behaviors among Hispanic immigrant adolescents: Examining longitudinal effects of cultural stress. Journal of adolescence, 42, 31-9.More infoThis study examined longitudinal effects of cultural stress (a latent factor comprised of bicultural stress, ethnic discrimination, and negative context of reception) on depressive symptoms and a range of externalizing behaviors among recently (≤5 years in the U.S. at baseline) immigrated Hispanic adolescents. A sample of 302 adolescents (53% boys; mean age 14.51 years) completed baseline measures of perceived ethnic discrimination, bicultural stress, and perceived negative context of reception; and outcome measures of depressive symptoms, cigarette smoking, alcohol use, aggressive behavior, and rule-breaking behavior six months post-baseline. A path analysis indicated that higher cultural stress scores predicted higher levels of all outcomes. These effects were consistent across genders, but varied by study site. Specifically, higher cultural stress scores increased depressive symptoms among participants in Miami, but not in Los Angeles. Findings suggest that cultural stress is a clinically relevant predictor of depressive symptoms and externalizing behaviors among Hispanic immigrant adolescents.
- Cano, M. Á., Schwartz, S. J., Castillo, L. G., Romero, A. J., Huang, S., Lorenzo‐Blanco, E. I., Unger, J. B., Zamboanga, B. L., Des Rosiers, S. E., Baezconde‐Garbanati, L., Lizzi, K. M., Soto, D. W., Oshri, A., Villamar, J. A., Pattarroyo, M., & Szapocznik, J. (2015). Depressive symptoms and externalizing behaviors among Hispanic immigrant adolescents: Examining longitudinal effects of cultural stress. Journal of Adolescence, 42(1), 31-39. doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2015.03.017
- Covarrubias, R., Romero, A., & Trivelli, M. (2015). Family Achievement Guilt and Mental Well-being of College Students. JOURNAL OF CHILD AND FAMILY STUDIES, 24(7), 2031-2037.
- Migue, C., Seth, S., Jennifer, U., & Romero, A. J. (2015). Depressive symptoms and externalizing behaviors among Hispanic immigrant adolescents: Examining longitudinal effects of cultural stress.. Journal of adolescence, 42, 31-39.More infoThis study examined longitudinal effects of cultural stress (a latent factor comprised of bicultural stress, ethnic discrimination, and negative context of reception) on depressive symptoms and a range of externalizing behaviors among recently (≤5 years in the U.S. at baseline) immigrated Hispanic adolescents. A sample of 302 adolescents (53% boys; mean age 14.51 years) completed baseline measures of perceived ethnic discrimination, bicultural stress, and perceived negative context of reception; and outcome measures of depressive symptoms, cigarette smoking, alcohol use, aggressive behavior, and rule-breaking behavior six months post-baseline. A path analysis indicated that higher cultural stress scores predicted higher levels of all outcomes. These effects were consistent across genders, but varied by study site. Specifically, higher cultural stress scores increased depressive symptoms among participants in Miami, but not in Los Angeles. Findings suggest that cultural stress is a clinically relevant predictor of depressive symptoms and externalizing behaviors among Hispanic immigrant adolescents.
- Miguel, C., Seth, S., Linda, C., Jennifer, U., Shi, H., Byron, Z., & Andrea, R. (2015). Health Risk Behaviors and Depressive Symptoms Among Hispanic Adolescents: Examining Acculturation Discrepancies and Family Functioning.. Journal of Family Psychology.More infoDrawing from a theory of bicultural family functioning 2 models were tested to examine the longitudinal effects of acculturation-related variables on adolescent health risk behaviors and depressive symptoms (HRB/DS) mediated by caregiver and adolescent reports of family functioning. One model examined the effects of caregiver-adolescent acculturation discrepancies in relation to family functioning and HRB/DS. A second model examined the individual effects of caregiver and adolescent acculturation components in relation to family functioning and HRB/DS. A sample of 302 recently immigrated Hispanic caregiver-child dyads completed measures of Hispanic and U.S. cultural practices, values, and identities at baseline (predictors); measures of family cohesion, family communications, and family involvement 6 months postbaseline (mediators); and only adolescents completed measures of smoking, binge drinking, inconsistent condom use, and depressive symptoms 1 year postbaseline (outcomes). Measures of family cohesion, family communications, and family involvement were used to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis to estimate the fit of a latent construct for family functioning. Key findings indicate that (a) adolescent acculturation components drove the effect of caregiver-adolescent acculturation discrepancies in relation to family functioning; (b) higher levels of adolescent family functioning were associated with less HRB/DS, whereas higher levels of caregiver family functioning were associated with more adolescent HRB/DS; (c) and only adolescent reports of family functioning mediated the effects of acculturation components and caregiver-adolescent acculturation discrepancies on HRB/DS. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved)
- Romero, A. J., Gonzalez, H., & Smith, B. (2015). How Mexican American Parents and Teens Navigate Discrimination Against Teens.. Journal of Child and Family Studies., 24(6), 1531-1543.More infoThe Integrative Model for the Study of Developmental Competencies in Minority Children argues that while discrimination and prejudice are normative experiences for ethnic minority children, promoting environments, family factors and adaptive culture may help minority youth develop effective coping strategies to deal with discrimination. Although this model emphasizes the critical role of family, there are relatively few studies on discrimination that include data from both parents and youth. In the current study, we qualitatively investigated themes of teen discrimination experiences and youth/parent responses in a sample (N = 40) of Mexican descent parents (n = 20) and middle school aged (11–15 years old) adolescents (n = 20) who participated in separate youth and parent focus groups. Adolescents indicate that stereotypes are pervasive, as evidenced in media, anti-immigrant comments, and insults from peers. Yet, adolescents expressed few specific strategies to deal with discrimination, and often expressed concern that standing up to discrimination may lead to physical altercation. Parents discussed the pervasiveness of prejudice and ethnic slurs, and specifically identified school as a setting where teens experience discrimination. Parents discussed strategies of teaching children not to use derogatory terms against others, telling them not to engage in fighting, encouraging children to report school incidents to teachers, and trying to prevent criminalization of male youth by talking to them about clothing choices. Mixed race families especially talked about inclusivity, ethnic/racial pride, and sharing family history (immigration, language, racial diversity). The Integrative Model for Developmental Competencies guides our discussion of implications for adolescent well-being and future research.
- Romero, A. J., Gonzalez, H., & Smith, B. A. (2015). Qualitative Exploration of Adolescent Discrimination: Experiences and Responses of Mexican-American Parents and Teens. JOURNAL OF CHILD AND FAMILY STUDIES, 24(6), 1531-1543.
- Schwartz, S. J., Unger, J. B., Baezconde-Garbanati, L., Zamboanga, B. L., Lorenzo-Blanco, E. I., Des Rosiers, S. E., Romero, A. J., Cano, M. Á., Gonzales-Backen, M. A., Córdova, D., Piña-Watson, B. M., Huang, S., Villamar, J. A., Soto, D. W., Pattarroyo, M., & Szapocznik, J. (2015). Trajectories of cultural stressors and effects on mental health and substance use among Hispanic immigrant adolescents. The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 56(4), 433-9.More infoWe sought to determine the extent to which initial levels and over-time trajectories of cultural stressors (discrimination, negative context of reception, and bicultural stress) predicted well-being, internalizing symptoms, conduct problems, and health risk behaviors among recently immigrated Hispanic adolescents. Addressing this research objective involved creating a latent factor for cultural stressors, establishing invariance for this factor over time, estimating a growth curve for this factor over time, and examining the effects of initial levels (intercepts) and trajectories (slopes) of cultural stressors on adolescent outcomes.
- Schwartz, S. J., Unger, J. B., Baezconde-Garbanati, L., Zamboanga, B. L., Lorenzo-Blanco, E. I., Rosiers, S., Romero, A. J., Cano, M. A., Gonzales-Backen, M. A., Cordova, D., Pina-Watson, B. M., Huang, S., Villamar, J. A., Soto, D. W., Pattarroyo, M., & Szapocznik, J. (2015). Trajectories of Cultural Stressors and Effects on Mental Health and Substance Use Among Hispanic Immigrant Adolescents. JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENT HEALTH, 56(4), 433-439.
- Schwartz, S., J, U., L., B., BL, Z., E, L., S., D., & Romero, A. J. (2015). Trajectories of cultural stressors and effects on mental health and substance use among recently arrived Hispanic adolescents.. Journal of Adolescent Health..More infoSchwartz, S.J., Unger, J.B., Baezconde-Garbanati, L., Zamboanga, B.L., Lorenzo-Blanco, E.I., Des Rosiers, S.E., Romero, A.J., Cano, M.Á., Gonzales-Backen, M.A., Córdova, D. and Piña-Watson, B.M., 2015. Trajectories of cultural stressors and effects on mental health and substance use among Hispanic immigrant adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 56(4), pp.433-439.
- Covarrubias, R., Romero, A. J., & Trivelli, M. (2013). The impact of family achievement guilt on the mental well-being of college students. Journal of Child and Family Studies..
- Romero, A. J., & Rodas, J. M. (2014). Review: Chicana and Chicano Mental Health: Alma, Mente y Corazón, by Yvette G. Flores. Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies, 39(2), 237-240. doi:10.1525/azt.2014.39.2.237
- Romero, A. J., Edwards, L. M., Fryberg, S. A., & Orduna, M. (2014). Resilience to discrimination stress across ethnic identity stages of development. JOURNAL OF APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, 44(1), 1-11.
- Romero, A. J., Edwards, L., Fryberg, S. A., & Orduna, M. (2014). Resilience to Discrimination Stress Across Ethnic Identity Stages of Development.. Journal of Applied Social Psychology., 1(44), 1-11.
- Romero, A. J., Pina-watson, B., Navarro, R. L., & Ojeda, L. (2014). Disengaged and Involuntary Responses to Coping Mediating Relations of Bicultural Stress to Late Adolescents’ Well-being. The European health psychologist, 16.More infoBicultural stress arises from intercultural conflicts in norms, language, values, or fair treatment. Grounded in theories of risk and resilience, the present study tests a mediational model of bicultural stress, coping strategies, and mental well-being. METHODS: 268 college students aged 18-23 participated (62% were European American; 38% Mexican American) in an IRB-approved online survey at a large US university. The Bicultural Stress Scale (Romero & Roberts, 2003) measured proximate everyday life stressors that occur within a bicultural environment; other measures included the Responses to Stress Questionnaire, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale, and the CES-D. FINDINGS: Models tested (MPlus) evidenced equivalent parameters across groups. Indirect effects (estimates from bootstrapping) showed involuntary engagement and voluntary disengagement significantly (p
- Bauman, S., Romero, A. J., Valencia, C., & Wiggs, C. B. (2013).
Latina Teen Suicide and Bullying
. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 35(2), 159-173. doi:10.1177/0739986312474237 - Cabrera, N. L., Meza, E., Romero, A. J., & Rodriguez, R. G. (2013). If there is no struggle, there is no progress: Transformative youth activism and the School of Ethnic Studies. Urban Education Review, 1(45), 7-22.
- Carvajal, S. C., Rosales, C., Rubio-Goldsmith, R., Sabo, S., Ingram, M., McClelland, D. J., Redondo, F., Torres, E., Romero, A. J., O'Leary, A. O., Sanchez, Z., & de Zapien, J. G. (2013). The border community and immigration stress scale: a preliminary examination of a community responsive measure in two Southwest samples. Journal of immigrant and minority health, 15(2), 427-36.More infoUnderstanding contemporary socio-cultural stressors may assist educational, clinical and policy-level health promotion efforts. This study presents descriptive findings on a new measure, the border community and immigration stress scale. The data were from two community surveys as part of community based participatory projects conducted in the Southwestern US border region. This scale includes stressful experiences reflected in extant measures, with new items reflecting heightened local migration pressures and health care barriers. Stressors representing each main domain, including novel ones, were reported with frequency and at high intensity in the predominantly Mexican-descent samples. Total stress was also significantly associated with mental and physical health indicators. The study suggests particularly high health burdens tied to the experience of stressors in the US border region. Further, many of the stressors are also likely relevant for other communities within developed nations also experiencing high levels of migration.
- Carvajal, S. C., Rosales, C., Rubio-Goldsmith, R., Sabo, S., Ingram, M., McClelland, D. J., Redondo, F., Torres, E., Romero, A. J., O'Leary, A. O., Sanchez, Z., & de, Z. (2013). The Border Community and Immigration Stress Scale: A Preliminary Examination of a Community Responsive Measure in Two Southwest Samples. JOURNAL OF IMMIGRANT AND MINORITY HEALTH, 15(2), 427-436.
- Carvajal, S., Carvajal, S., Rosales, C. B., Rosales, C. B., Raquel, G. R., Raquel, G. R., Sabo, S., Sabo, S., Ingram, M. -., Ingram, M. -., McClelland, D., McClelland, D., Redondo, F., Redondo, F., Torres, E., Torres, E., Romero, A. J., Romero, A. J., O'Leary, A. O., , O'Leary, A. O., et al. (2013). The Border Community and Immigration Stress Scale: A Preliminary Examination of a Community Responsive Measure in Two Southwest Samples. Journal of Immigrant & Minority Health, 2(15), 427-436.More infoThis article is based on earlier research on Migrant Farmworker health in Yuma, Arizona. The article was first published on-line in 2012, then in print in 2013.
- Edwards, L. M., Fryberg, S. A., Orduña, M., & Romero, A. J. (2013).
Resilience to discrimination stress across ethnic identity stages of development: Resilience
. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 44(1), 1-11. doi:10.1111/jasp.12192 - Romero, A. J., Bracamonte-Wiggs, C., Valencia, C., & Bauman, S. A. (2013). Latina teen suicide and bullying.. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 2(35), 159-173.
- Romero, A. J., Wiggs, C. B., Valencia, C., & Bauman, S. (2013). Latina Teen Suicide and Bullying. HISPANIC JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES, 35(2), 159-173.
- Santiago-Rivera, A., Cardemil, E., Prieto, L., & Romero, A. J. (2013). Welcome to the Journal of Latina/o Psychology: Vision and Evolution.. Journal of Latina/o Psychology, 1(1), 1-2.
- Wiggs, C. B., Romero, A. J., & Orduna, M. (2013). Lack of Parental Rules for Cell Phone Use among Low Income Mexican Descendent Adolescents. Journal of Youth Development, 8(3), 124-133. doi:10.5195/jyd.2013.89More infoYouth have access to and utilize various types of technology at a growing rate. Cell phones are a portable way for adolescents to remain in constant contact with friends, parents, and others. While White youth are more likely to have a cell phone compared to Latino youth, the trends for cell phone use are similar among all teens with text messaging serving as the most popular means of communication. Despite their high volume of communication with others via cell phones, adolescents are likely to have little or no adult supervision while using technology. With a lack of parental supervision or awareness regarding youth technology use, adolescents may be especially vulnerable to cyberbullying and other negative health impacts. The current study investigates cell phone and texting use among a community sample of Latino adolescents and examines how parental rules regarding cell phone use influences adolescents’ cell phone and texting behaviors.
- Carvajal, S., Rosales, C., Rubio-Goldsmith, R., Sabo, S., Ingram, M., McClelland, J., Redondo, F., Torres, E., Romero, A., Ochoa, O., Sanchez, Z., & Guernsey, d. (2012). The Border Community and Immigration Stress Scale: A preliminary examination of a community responsive measure in two southwest samples. Journal of Immigrant Minority Health.
- O'Leary, A., Romero, A., Cabrera, N., & , M. (2012). Assault on Ethnic Studies. Arizona Firestorm: Global ImmigrationRealities, National Media & Provincial Politics, 97-120.
- Rivera, A., Cardemil, E., Prieto, L., & Romero, A. (2012). Welcome to the Journal of Latina/o Psychology. Journal Of Latina/O Psychology, 1(S), 1-2.
- Romero, A. (2012). Latin Active: A Pilot Test of the Latin Active Hip Hop Intervention to Increase Physical Activity Among Low-income Mexican American Adolescents. American Journal of Health Promotion, 26(4).
- Romero, A. J. (2012). A pilot test of the latin active hip hop intervention to increase physical activity among low-income mexican-american adolescents. American Journal of Health Promotion, 26(4), 208-211.More infoPMID: 22375569;Abstract: Purpose. The primary purpose of the current study was to develop, implement, and evaluate a hip hop dance intervention, Latin Active, among low-income Mexican-American adolescents. Mexican-descent adolescents tend to have disproportionate rates of low physical activity, overweight status, and obesity. Design. A 5-week intervention design with pretest and post-test self-report measures. Setting. Charter middle school (grades 6-9) health/science classes in a low-income neighborhood were the setting for the Latin Active intervention. Participants. Overall, 81 participants were recruited; 73 (n 5 41, female; n 5 32, male) provided active parental consent to complete pretest/post-test surveys. Intervention. The Latin Active program included 10 interactive 50-minute lessons that were delivered twice a week during science/health classes. The curriculum was created on the basis of Social Cognitive Theory, Critical Hip Hop Pedagogy, and feedback from key stakeholders. The lessons focused on increasing physical activity as well as neighborhood barriers. Measures. The self-report pretest (n 5 73) and post-test (n 5 56) surveys included measures for frequency of vigorous physical activity, self-efficacy, and neighborhood barriers. Analysis. Paired-sample t-test analyses were conducted to assess mean differences from pretest to post-test results for intervention outcomes by gender. Results. The Latin Active program (with 77% retention at post-test) significantly increased vigorous physical activity and dance (p < .05) and increased self-efficacy (p < .05) among girls, and it decreased perception of neighborhood barriers (p < .05) among boys. Conclusion. A hip hop physical activity program, Latin Active demonstrated preliminary efficacy to increase girl's vigorous physical activity and boy's perception of neighborhood barriers to physical activity. Future research will need to use a randomized, controlled design and investigate the effect of the program on measures of body mass index. (Am J Health Promot 2012;26[4]:208-211.) . © 2012 by American Journal of Health Promotion, Inc.
- Romero, A. J. (2012). Latin Active: A Pilot Test of the Latin Active Hip Hop Intervention to Increase Physical Activity Among Low-income Mexican American Adolescents. American Journal of Health Promotion.More info;Your Role: sole author;Full Citation: Romero, A.J. (2012) Latin Active: A Pilot Test of the Latin Active Hip Hop Intervention to Increase Physical Activity Among Low-income Mexican American Adolescents. American Journal of Health Promotion. 26(4), 208-211.;
- Romero, A. J., & Campen, V. (2012). How are self-efficacy and family involvement associated with less sexual risk-taking among ethnic minority adolescents?. Family Relations.More info;Your Role: I was second author, but the first author is a graduate student that I mentored. She used my dataset.;Full Citation: Van Campen, K. S.,+ & Romero, A. J. (2012). How are self-efficacy and family involvement associated with less sexual risk-taking among ethnic minority adolescents? Family Relation, .61, 548-558.;Collaborative with graduate student: Yes;
- Romero, A. J., Carvajal, S., Rosales, C., Rubio-Goldsmith, R., Sabo, S., INgram, M., & McClelland, J. e. (2012). The Border Community and Immigration Stress Scale: A preliminary examination of a community responsive measure in two southwest samples.. Journal of Immigrant Minority Health.More info;Your Role: I contributed to the development, analysis and interpretation of this new measure.;Full Citation: Carvajal, S.C., Rosales, C., Rubio-Goldsmith, R., Sabo, S., Ingram, M., McClelland, J., Redondo, F., Torres, E., Romero, A.J., Ochoa O'Leary, A., Sanchez, Z., & Guernsey de Zapien, J. (2012). The Border Community and Immigration Stress Scale: A preliminary examination of a community responsive measure in two southwest samples. Journal of Immigrant Minority Health.;Collaborative with graduate student: Yes;Collaborative with faculty member in unit: Yes;Collaborative with faculty member at UA: Yes;
- S., K., & Romero, A. J. (2012). How Are Self-Efficacy and Family Involvement Associated With Less Sexual Risk Taking Among Ethnic Minority Adolescents?. Family Relations, 61(4), 548-558.More infoAbstract: The current study investigates the protective influences of family involvement (i.e., parental monitoring, communication, closeness, and family proximity) and sexual self-efficacy on the risky sexual behavior of ethnic minority (predominantly Mexican-origin) adolescents in the southwestern United States (N = 122). Results indicate that whereas sexual self-efficacy was associated with intentions to have safe sex in the next 3 months, family involvement predicted being less likely to have ever had sex and to intend to have sex in the next 3 months and fewer lifetime sexual partners, beyond the variance predicted by sexual self-efficacy. Sexual self-efficacy continues to be an important predictor of adolescent risky sexual behavior and intentions; however, family involvement (monitoring, communication, closeness, and proximity) impacts certain positive preventive behaviors above and beyond self-efficacy. Family involvement is an important factor to consider in prevention and intervention with ethnic minority adolescents. © 2012 by the National Council on Family Relations.
- Van, C., & Romero, A. J. (2012). How Are Self-Efficacy and Family Involvement Associated With Less Sexual Risk Taking Among Ethnic Minority Adolescents?. FAMILY RELATIONS, 61(4), 548-558.
- O'Leary, A. &., & Romero, A. J. (2011). Undergraduate student's engagement with Arizona Senate Bill 1108 “Anti-Ethnic Studies”: Influences of civic engagement, ethnic identity on well-being.. Aztlan.More info;Your Role: We used my data that I collected and analyzed, but it was an equal partnership for the writing.;Full Citation: O'Leary, A. & Romero, A.J. (2011) Undergraduate student's engagement with Arizona Senate Bill 1108 “Anti-Ethnic Studies”: Influences of civic engagement, ethnic identity on well-being. Aztlan, 36, 9-36.;Collaborative with faculty member in unit: Yes;
- O, L. A., & Romero, A. (2011). Undergraduate student s engagement with Arizona Senate Bill 1108 Anti-Ethnic Studies : Influences of civic engagement, ethnic identity on well-being. Aztlan, 36, 9-36.
- Romero, A. J., & O'leary, A. O. (2011). Chicana/o Students Respond to Arizona's Anti-Ethnic Studies Bill, SB 1108: Civic Engagement, Ethnic Identity, and Well-Being.. Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies, 36(1), 9-36.
- Romero, A., & Edwards, L. (2011). Latina Adolescent Resiliency: Positive Effects of Gender, Family, and Culture on Mental Health. Latinos and mental health.
- Romero, A., & O, L. A. (2011). Undergraduate student responses to Arizona s Anti-ethnic studies bill: Implications for mental health. UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, Policy Brief. No. 26.
- Romero, A., & Van, C. K. (2011). Bicultural Stress Among Adolescents. Encyclopedia of Adolescence.
- Russell, S., & Romero, A. (2011). Sexual Orientation and Identity in Latino/a Youth:Implications for Mental Health. Latinos and mental health.
- O'leary, A. O., Romero, A. J., & O'leary, A. O. (2010).
Chicana/o Students' Engagement with Arizona's "Anti- Ethnic Studies" Bill 1108: Civic Engagement, Ethnic Identity and Well-being
. Mexican American Studies Paper.More infoAs an amendment to a Homeland Security Bill in 2008, Arizona Senate Bill 1108, the “Anti-Ethnic Studies” bill, sought to establish that “a primary purpose of public education is to inculcate values of American citizenship” by proposing to eliminate the state’s ethnic-studies programs and ethnic-based organizations characterized as “un-American.” We investigated undergraduate student responses to the proposed amendment to the SB 1108 bill and associations with civic engagement, stress, ethnic identity, and mental well-being (depressive symptoms and self-esteem). Ninety-nine undergraduate students who self-identified as Mexican, Mexican American, or Chicana/o completed an online survey. Their responses indicated that more stress due to SB 1108 was significantly associated with more discrimination stress, lower self-esteem, and more depressive symptoms. We found that students that were more civically engaged in general were more engaged with SB 1108. Students with less positive or examined ethnic identity were more likely to be disengaged with SB 1108. Moreover, even if students felt high levels of stress from SB 1108, their engaged responses buffered them from the potentially negative effect of this proposed measure on self-esteem. In contrast, those who felt stress but were not engaged had significantly lower self-esteem. These findings have important implications for understanding the effect of nativist policy on Chicana/o youth and validate the benefits of civic engagement for the well-being of ethnic minority students. - Romero, A. J., & Edwards, L. (2010). Coping with discrimination among Mexican descent youth.. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences.More info;Your Role: I was P.I. on the project and co-author;Full Citation: Edwards, L. & Romero, A.J. (2008) Coping with discrimination among Mexican descent youth. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences. 30(1), 24-39. ;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: Lisa Edwards is located at Marquette University;
- Edwards, L. M., & Romero, A. J. (2008).
Coping With Discrimination Among Mexican Descent Adolescents
. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 30(1), 24-39. doi:10.1177/0739986307311431 - Edwards, L. M., & Romero, A. J. (2008). Coping with discrimination among Mexican descent adolescents. HISPANIC JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES, 30(1), 24-39.
- Edwards, L. M., & Romero, A. J. (2008). Coping with discrimination among Mexican descent adolescents. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 30(1), 24-39.More infoAbstract: The current research is designed to explore the relationship among discrimination stress, coping strategies, and self-esteem among Mexican descent youth (N = 73, age 11-15 years). Results suggest that primary control engagement and disengagement coping strategies are positively associated with discrimination stress. Furthermore, self-esteem is predicted by an interaction of primary control engagement coping and discrimination stress, such that at higher levels of discrimination stress, youth who engaged in more primary control engagement coping reported higher self-esteem. The authors' findings indicate that Mexican descent youth are actively finding ways to cope with the common experience of negative stereotypes and prejudice, such that their self-esteem is protected from the stressful impact of discrimination and prejudice. Implications of these findings for Latino/a youth resilience are discussed. © 2008 Sage Publications.
- Romero, A. J., & Edwards, L. (2008). Coping with discrimination among Mexican descent youth.. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences.More info;Your Role: I was P.I. on the project and co-author;Full Citation: Edwards, L. & Romero, A.J. (2008) Coping with discrimination among Mexican descent youth. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences. 30(1), 24-39. ;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: Lisa Edwards is located at Marquette University;
- Romero, A. J., & Ruiz, M. (2007). Does familism lead to increased parental monitoring?: Protective factors for coping with risky behaviors. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 16(2), 143-154.More infoAbstract: We examined coping with risky behaviors (cigarettes, alcohol/drugs, yelling/ hitting, and anger), familism (family proximity and parental closeness) and parental monitoring (knowledge and discipline) in a sample of 56 adolescents (11-15 years old) predominantly of Mexican descent at two time points. Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that more time spent with family (proximity) at Time 1 significantly predicts higher parental monitoring at Time two. Coping with more risky behaviors at Time 1 was significantly associated with less parental monitoring at Time 2. More parental closeness Time 1, more parental monitoring Time 1, and more parental monitoring Time 2 were associated with less coping with risky behaviors at Time 2. The cultural value of familism, particularly spending time with family in positive activities, appears to increase parental monitoring which may lead to less coping with risky behaviors among Mexican descent adolescents. Future studies may investigate gendered mechanisms for how extended family may increase not only parental knowledge of youth activities, but also youth perception of supervision. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007.
- Romero, A. J., Carvajal, S. C., Valle, F., & Orduna, M. (2007). Adolescent bicultural stress and its impact on mental well-being among Latinos, Asian Americans, and European Americans. JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, 35(4), 519-534.
- Romero, A. J., Corvajol, S. C., Valle, F., & Orduña, M. (2007). Adolescent bicultural stress and its impact on mental well-being among Latinos, Asian Americans, and European Americans. Journal of Community Psychology, 35(4), 519-534.More infoAbstract: The perception of bicultural stress, stress due to discrimination/ prejudice, immigration, and acculturation, was investigated in relation to mental well-being in a sample of urban Latino (n = 304), European American (n = 215), and Asian American (n - 311) 8th grade students. Bicultural stress was reported by all ethnic groups and was significantly associated with more depressive symptoms and less optimism (only for females), after accounting for ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, and age. Latino and Asian American youth were more likely to report more stressors, although after controlling for sociodemographic variables the differences predominantly remained only between Asian Americans and European Americans. Lower socioeconomic status, male gender, and not speaking English also were associated with more stress. The negative impact of bicultural stress on adolescent depressive symptoms and optimism indicates the need for mental health researchers and service providers to consider the cultural context of stress for adolescents. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
- Romero, A. J., Martinez, D., & Carvajal, S. C. (2007). Bicultural stress and adolescent risk behaviors in a community sample of Latinos and non-Latino European Americans. ETHNICITY & HEALTH, 12(5), 443-463.
- Romero, A. J., Martinez, D., & Carvajal, S. C. (2007). Bicultural stress and adolescent risk behaviors in a community sample of Latinos and non-Latino European Americans. Ethnicity & health, 12(5), 443-63.More infoThe study examined the relation between adolescent risk behaviors and bicultural stress due to discrimination, immigration, and acculturation factors. We hypothesized bicultural stress would be related to increased risk behavior and depressive symptoms independent of socioeconomic status, ethnic self-identification, and acculturation.
- Romero, A. J., Romero, A. J., Martinez, D. E., Martinez, D. E., Carvajal, S. C., & Carvajal, S. C. (2007). Bicultural Stress and Adolescent Risk Behaviors in a Community Sample of Latinos and Non-Latino Whites. Ethnicity & Health, 12(5), 443-463. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/13557850701616854
- Romero, A. J. (2005). Low-income neighborhood barriers and resources for adolescents' physical activity. Journal of Adolescent Health, 36(3), 253-259.More infoPMID: 15737782;Abstract: Purpose: To investigate factors of low-income neighborhoods and households on physical activity with a sample of adolescents from low-income neighborhoods. Methods: Middle-school-aged youth (n = 74) from a low-income neighborhood completed self-report surveys. Measures include vigorous exercise frequency, neighborhood hazards, after-school time demands, availability of facilities, quality of facilities, and perceived safety. Hierarchical multiple linear regression and Pearson product moment correlations were conducted to test hypotheses that more frequent physical activity would be associated with more available locations, better quality facilities, fewer time demands, more after-school programs, more perceived safety, and more hazards. Results: Results indicate that more physical activity was associated with more hours spent in after-school programs (r = .50, p < .001) and perception of higher quality of local facilities (r = .28, p < .05). Perception of safe adults at local facilities accounted for more variance than perception of neighborhood hazards in the association with physical activity even after accounting for gender, age, and socioeconomic status. Conclusions: Future health promotion programs should consider factors of after-school programs such as quality, cost, and presence of safe adults when attempting to increase and maintain youth physical activity in lower income areas. © 2005 Society for Adolescent Medicine. All rights reserved.
- Romero, A., & Romero, A. J. (2005). Low-income neighborhood barriers and resources for adolescents' physical activity. The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 36(3).More infoTo investigate factors of low-income neighborhoods and households on physical activity with a sample of adolescents from low-income neighborhoods.
- Romero, A. J., Robinson, T. N., Haydel, K. F., Mendoza, F., & Killen, J. D. (2004). Associations among familism, language, preference, and education in Mexican-American mothers and their children. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 25(1), 34-40.More infoPMID: 14767354;Abstract: Latino families who express a higher degree of familism are characterized by positive interpersonal familial relationships, high family unity, social support, interdependence in the completion of daily activities, and close proximity with extended family members. Retention of cultural values, such as familism, may be linked to positive health outcomes; however, little is known about how families retain culture of origin values in the face of acculturation pressures. The current study explores acculturation influences as indexed by language preference and household education on maternal and child familism. Mothers and children of Mexican descent (fourth grade students) (n = 219) completed measures of demographics, household education, language preference, and familism. Three hypotheses were examined. First, we predicted that lower household education would be correlated with higher familism scores. However, contrary to our prediction, a higher familism score was significantly associated with a higher level of household education (p < .05). Second, we predicted that higher child familism would be associated with the preference for speaking Spanish. Children who preferred to use both English and Spanish (p < .01) or English alone (p < .05) had higher familism scores than those who preferred Spanish. Third, we predicted that lower child familism scores would be associated with greater differences in mother and child language preferences. There were no significant differences in child familism based on differences between parent and child language. Protective influences of cultural maintenance deserve further attention in longitudinal studies and in relation to the physical and mental health of youth. Copyright © 2004 by Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, Inc.
- Roberts, R. E., & Romero, A. J. (2003).
The Impact of Multiple Dimensions of Ethnic Identity on Discrimination and Adolescents’ Self‐Estees
. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 33(11), 2288-2305. doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2003.tb01885.x - Romero, A. J., & Roberts, R. E. (2003). Stress within a bicultural context for adolescents of Mexican descent. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 9(2), 171-184.More infoPMID: 12760328;Abstract: Folkman and Lazarus's theory of stress and coping was used to develop a measure assessing the perceived stress within a bicultural context. Middle school students of Mexican descent (N = 881) reported their perceived stress from intergenerational acculturation gaps, within-group discrimination, out-group discrimination, and monolingual stress. Although immigrant youths reported more total number of stressors, U.S.-born youths reported more stress from needing better Spanish and impact of parents' culture. Immigrant youths reported more stress from needing better English in school. Higher stress was associated with more depressive symptoms for both U.S.-born and immigrant youths. Although this study has identified some elements of stress, it has not identified positive coping mechanisms of the bicultural context for Latino youths.
- Romero, A. J., & Roberts, R. E. (2003). The Impact of Multiple Dimensions of Ethnic Identity on Discrimination and Adolescents' Self-Esteem. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 33(11), 2288-2305.More infoAbstract: The rejection-identification model is investigated with multiple dimensions of ethnic identity in a sample of Mexican American youth. It is hypothesized that more perceived discrimination will be associated with higher ethnic identity in general, but that the multiple dimensions of ethnic identity will be associated differentially with discrimination. Higher perceived discrimination will be associated with more ethnic exploration and less ethnic affirmation. Self-report questionnaires were completed by middle school students of Mexican descent (N= 881). Based on structural equation modeling, the data were found to fit the rejection-identification model (p < .05). Higher discrimination was associated with lower ethnic affirmation (p < .05) and lower ethnic exploration (p < .05). Post hoc analyses indicated a significant interaction between discrimination and ethnic affirmation (p < .01) such that youth with high ethnic affirmation who experienced high discrimination still reported high self-esteem. The findings are discussed in the context of understanding methods of coping with prejudice and discrimination that will enhance the mental well-being of minority youth.
- Carvajal, S. C., Hanson, C. E., Romero, A. J., & Coyle, K. K. (2002). Behavioural risk factors and protective factors in adolescents: A comparison of Latinos and non-Latino Whites. Ethnicity and Health, 7(3), 181-193.More infoPMID: 12523944;Abstract: Objectives. This study investigated differences in behavioural health protective and risk factors in US Latino and non-Latino White adolescents as well as differences among Latinos with different levels of acculturation using a bicultural acculturation model. The bicultural model is consistent with current understanding of cultural change processes; however it has infrequently been applied to understand adolescent health outcomes. The outcomes included risk and health behaviours as well as mental health factors consistent with Jessor's framework for describing adolescents' health status. Design. Participants included 1119 students randomly selected from all middle schools of a Northern California district. Respondents completed project staff administered self-reports surveys in their schools that included assessments of health behaviours, mental health, and socio-cultural variables - including acculturation level. Results. Latinos were at higher risk than non-Latino Whites in the following areas: academic orientation, physical activity, and sunscreen use. Boys and those of lower social class were more likely to report use of various substances and violence. Among Latinos, those in the marginalised acculturation group - those with less attachments and adaptations to Latino and other cultures, showed less desirable mental health outcomes than the bicultural group. Conclusion. These results extend prior research by assessing the health needs of early adolescent youth. The study found important differences within Latinos using a bicultural acculturation model. The use of a bicultural acculturation model, or cultural orientation approach more generally, may have especial utility for addressing health issues wherever minority populations interact with a dominant society.
- Romero, A. J., Robinson, T. N., Kraemer, H. C., Erickson, S. J., Haydel, K. F., Mendoza, F., & Killen, J. D. (2001). Are perceived neighborhood hazards a barrier to physical activity in children?. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 155(10), 1143-1148.More infoPMID: 11576010;Abstract: Background: We hypothesized that children's perceptions of more neighborhood hazards would be associated with less physical activity, less aerobic fitness, and a higher body mass index. Objective: To examine the association between a hazardous neighborhood context and physical activity in children. Methods: Fourth-grade students (n=796) of diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds completed measures of neighborhood hazards, self-reported physical activity, physical fitness, height, and weight. Parents (n=51.8) completed telephone interviews and provided data on their education level and occupation. Results: As expected, children from families of lower socioeconomic status perceived significantly more neighborhood hazards. Contrary to our hypothesis, the perception of more hazards was significantly associated with more reported physical activity. This finding was not explained by school heterogeneity, alteration of the hazards measure, or differences in socioeconomic status. Conclusion: To further examine the relationship between neighborhood hazards and physical activity, we suggest that future studies include assessments of sedentary behavior, parental fear of violence, parental regulation of children's leisure activities, and cost and quality of available play areas and organized sports.
- Niemann, Y. F., Romero, A., & Arbona, C. (2000). Effects of cultural orientation on the perception of conflict between relationship and education goals for Mexican American college students. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 22(1), 46-63.More infoAbstract: Cultural factors internal to the ethnic group may exacerbate external and economic barriers to the pursuit of higher education for Mexican American students. In particular, cultural variables related to traditional, relationship-oriented behaviors and expectations may be perceived to conflict with educational pursuits. The present study examined the relationship between components of cultural orientation and attitudes and values that may create tension between relationship and educational goals for Mexican American men and women. Results of a survey that assessed cultural orientation and marriage and gender role attitudes of Mexican Americans (female, N = 356; male, N = 200) indicated that the ethnic-loyalty component of cultural orientation most consistently predicted adherence to beliefs that may lead to the perception of conflict between relationship and educational goals. Discussion centers on the role of ethnic loyalty as a risk factor for Mexican American men's and women's decisions to pursue and complete higher education.
- Romero, A. J., Roberts, R. E., Cu�llar, I., & Cuellar, I. (2000). Ethnocultural variables and attitudes toward cultural socialization of children. Journal of Community Psychology, 28(1), 79-89. doi:10.1002/(sici)1520-6629(200001)28:1<79::aid-jcop8>3.0.co;2-nMore info■Cultural socialization is the transmission of cultural values and norms to one’s children. The current study presents a new scale to assess parental socialization attitudes to both the U.S. American culture and the Latino culture. The scale is based on a social cognitive model of cultural socialization and cultural values of independence and interdependence. It was hypothesized that individuals who have lower acculturation, more recent generation level, and higher Mexican identity would have higher scores on the Latino cultural socialization scale and lower scores on the U.S. American cultural socialization scale. A sample of parents who were college students completed a survey, which included ethnocultural variables and the cultural socialization scale (CSS). A MANOVA with criterion variables, U.S. American cultural socialization and Latino cultural socialization, and the following predictor variables: acculturation level, generation level, Mexican identity, White American identity, and socioeconomic status. Results indicate that the scale is reliable and partially support the hypotheses that ethnocultural variables influence attitudes toward cultural socialization ARTICLE
- Niemann, Y. F., Romero, A. J., Arredondo, J., & Rodriguez, V. (1999). What does it mean to be "Mexican"? Social construction of an ethnic identity. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 21(1), 47-60.More infoAbstract: To better understand the impact of ethnic identity, it is important to examine people's social construction, or definition, of that identity. In this study, the social construction of ethnic identity of predominantly low-acculturated, first-and second-generation U.S. Mexicans and Mexican Americans was examined by asking focus group participants to talk about what it meant to them to be members of their ethnic groups. These open-ended responses then were coded along Phinney's aspects of ethnicity. Several interesting patterns emerged, some of which have not been emphasized in previous literature, such as conflict with African Americans and Chicanas/Chicanos. Discussion centers on the value of listening to people's social constructions of their ethnic identity to better understand their social realities.
- Roberts, R. E., Phinney, J. S., Masse, L. C., Chen, Y. R., Roberts, C. R., & Romero, A. (1999). The structure of ethnic identity of young adolescents from diverse ethnocultural groups. Journal of Early Adolescence, 19(3), 301-322.More infoAbstract: The purpose for this study was to examine the structure and construct validity of a measure of ethnic identity among young adolescents from diverse ethnic groups. Students in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades (N = 5,423) from diverse ethnic groups completed the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM), measures of psychological well-being and a measure of salience of ethnicity. Factor analyses of data for the three largest ethnic groups (European American, African American, Mexican American) yielded a two-factor structure that corresponded to two theoretical approaches to ethnic identity, as hypothesized. Similar patterns in magnitude of loadings were observed across groups, indicating that the MEIM could be used as a global composite index of ethnic identity. Ethnic identity was related positively to measures of psychological well-being such as coping ability, mastery, self-esteem and optimism, and negatively to measures of loneliness and depression. MEIM scores also were moderately strong and positive with salience (the importance of a person's own ethnic background in his or her life), across ethnic groups.
- Romero, A. J., & Roberts, R. E. (1998). Perception of discrimination and ethnocultural variables in a diverse group of adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 21(6), 641-656.More infoPMID: 9971722;Abstract: Despite current interest in the multi-dimensionality of culture and ethnicity there are few studies that have explored the role of discrimination with ethnocultural variables. In this study social identity theory was used as a framework to test the relation between discrimination and components of ethnic identity, and attitudes towards out-groups. A school-based survey in a large south-west metropolitan area in 1994 was undertaken with students (n = 3071) of African-American, European-American, Mexican-American, and Vietnamese-American descent using multiple measures of ethnicity. Hierarchical multiple regression results indicated that two components of ethnic identity played different roles in the relation between discrimination and attitudes towards others. Consistent with social identity theory, results indicated that perception of more discrimination was predicted by high ethnic exploration, and having more negative attitudes towards out-groups. However, ethnic affirmation, which is a positive sense of belonging to one's ethnic group, was only indirectly related to discrimination through attitudes toward others. In fact, contrary to social identity theory, a stronger sense of belonging to one's group was associated with more positive attitudes toward out-groups. Results have important implications for race relations.
Presentations
- Anhalt, K., & Toomey, R. B. (2018, April). Co-occurring ethnic and sexual identity processes: Experiences of sexual minority Latinx adolescents and young adults. Society for Research on Adolescence Biennial Meeting. Minneapolis, MN: Society for Research on Adolesence.
- Caporale, J., Rascon-Canales, M., & Romero, A. J. (2018, Fall). The pivotal role of social workers in achieveing student success and supporting teachers.. National Latinx Psychological Association. La Jolla California.
- Edwards, L., Torres, L., & Romero, A. J. (2018, Fall). Institute development and Latinx research. National Latinx Psychological Association.. National Latinx Psychological Association. La Jolla California.
- Kim, S., Romero, A. J., & Rodas, J. (2018, Fall). A vision of a healthy college-going school: Suggestions from principals, administrators, teachers and counselorss. National Latinx Psychological Assocition. La Jolla California: NLPA.
- Pecgh, A., Romero, A. J., Macias, D., Shramko, M., & Macias, V. (2018, Fall). Critical Pedagogy for college-going culture with Latinx students: Using counterstory methodology with a high school university service learning project.. National Latinx Psychological Association. La Jolla California.
- Romero, A. J. (2018, Spring). Suicidality and Depression Among Latino Youth. Pima County School Supervisor. Tucson, Arizona: Pima County School Supervisor.More infoThis presentation was invited. It was given at two separate times because the first time it was full and had a wait list. Both times the room was full with approximately 100 people each time.
- Romero, A. J. (2018, Spring). Suicidality and Depression of Latino Youth. Phoenix Elementary School District. Phoenix, Arizona: Phoenix Elementary School District.More info2018 Invited Speaker, Suicide and Schools, Phoenix Elementary School District. Presentation to administrators and school staff for Phoenix Elementary School District.
- Romero, A. J. (2018, Spring). Suicidality and Depression of Latino Youth. Pima County School Supervisor. Tucson, ARizona: Pima County School Supervisor.More info2018 Invited Speaker, Suicide and Schools. Pima County Superintendents Office. Presentation to administrators across Pima County.
- Lopez, F. A., Jayakumar, U., & Romero, A. J. (2017, Spring). The Colorblinding of the Segregation Policy: Expanding interest convergence beyond the Black-White paradigm.. American Educational Research Association National Conference. San Antonio, Texas: American Educational Research Association.More infoI actually presented this paper even though I was 3rd author. RC2
- Nievar, A., Romero, A. J., Tucker, M., Camacho, J., & Reyes, R. (2017, FAll). Parenting among Latino immigrant families: A systematic review of risk and resilience. National Council on Family Relations.. National Council on Family Relations. Orlando, Florida: NCFR.More infoRC2
- VAlencia, B., Caporale, J., & Romero, A. J. (2017, Spring). I had (my dreams) on hold, I had to”Latina/o high school dropout aspirations.. American Educational Research Association Conference. San Antonio, Texas: AERA.More infoRC2
- Romero, A. J., Pina-Watson, B., & Toomey, R. B. (2016, March). Does ethnic identity status moderate the association between bicultural stress and mental health of Mexican descent youth?. Society for Research on Adolescence. Baltimore, MD: Society for Research on Adolescence.
- Lopez, F. A., Romero, A. J., & Rodas, J. M. (2014, Fall). role of multicultural education in the development of ethnic identity.. National Association for Multicultural Educators. Tucson, AZ.More infoRomero, A., López, F., Rodas, J. M. (November, 2014). The role of multicultural education in the development of ethnic identity. Panel member at the annual meetings of the National Association for Multicultural Educators, Tucson, AZ.
- Moreno, M., & Romero, A. J. (2014, October). The association of family and social environment on economic stress among Mexican descent adult and youth hope and self-esteem. National Latina/o Psychological Association National Conference. Albuquerque, New Mexico: National Latina/o Psychological Association.
- Pina-Watson, B., & Romero, A. J. (2014, October). Developing a greater understanding of cultural impacts on depression and suicidality for Mexican American adolescents.. National Latina/o Psychological Association National Conference. Albuquerque, New Mexico: National Latina/o Psychological Association.More infoI was invited to moderate this panel.
- Pina-Watson, B., M., H., & Romero, A. J. (2014, April). Adolescent resilience to bicultural stress: Impact on mental well-being and education.. . Society for Research on Adolescence. Biannual conference.. Austin, Texas: . Society for Research on Adolescence. ..More infoI presented my original research and I chaired this panel.
- Romero, A. J. (2014, Spring). Cesar Chavez Week and civic engagement.. Cesar Chavez Week. University of Arizona, Tucson, ARizona: Chicano/ Hispano Student Affairs.
- Romero, A. J. (2014, Spring). Preventing adolescent depression and suicide among Latinas.. UA Sociology Department Brown Bag. University of Arizona, Tucson, ARizona: Sociology Department.More infoRomero, A. J. (2014). Preventing adolescent depression and suicide among Latinas. Sociology Brown Bag. University of Arizona.
- Romero, A. J., & Ritter, M. (2014, Spring). Preventing Latina adolescent depression and suicide.. Science Café. Tucson Festival of Books. University of Arizona, Tucson, ARizona: Tucson Festival of Books.More infoApproximately 30 people participated in the Science Cafe for my presentation. The Tucson Festival of Books reaches several thousand people on an annual basis. I invited my undergraduate student who is a co-author on this book to help co-present our findings in the book.
- Romero, A. J., Rodas, J., & Lopez, F. A. (2014, November). The role of multicultural education in the development of ethnic identity.. National Association of Multicultural Educators National Conference. Tucson, Arizona: National Association of Multicultural Educators.More infoI was the chair for this panel on the topic of ethnic identity development and multicultural education
- Romero, A. J., Serido, J. -., & Shim, S. (2014, October). Family capital, academic satisfaction and retention among Latino undergraduates.. National Latina/o Psychological Association National Conference. Albuquerque, New Mexico: National Latina/o Psychological Association.
- Romero, A. J. (2013, April). S.B. 1070 stress and hope among teens, parents and community members: Border community and immigration stress model. Society for Research in Child Development. Seattle, Washington.
- Romero, A. J. (2013, May). Youth-community partnership for alcohol prevention: “We can’t do it alone”. 6th Annual Diverse Voices in Prevention.. Diverse Voices in Prevention. Tucson, Arizona: Compass Behavioral Health Care.
- Romero, A. J., Shim, S., & Serido, J. (2013, May). Family and social capital influences on Latino undergraduate academic achievement.. Consumer Culture Theory Conference. Tucson, Arizona.
- Romero, A. J., & Valencia, . (2012, 2013-02-01). Latina teen suicide and bullying.. National Latino/a Psychological Association. New Brunswick, New Jersey.More info;Submitted: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Collaborative with graduate student: Yes;Type of Presentation: Professional Organization;
- Romero, A. J., Bauman, S., & Valencia, C. (2012, 2012-10-01). Latina Suicide and Bullying. National Council on Family Relations. Phoenix, Arizona.More infoRomero, A.J. (2011). Mental Health of Latina Girls & Teens: Gender, Peer, Family & Culture. Girl's and Women's Health Across the Lifespan Conference. Arizona Department of Public Health. Phoenix, Arizona.;Your Role: primary author. graduate student Christine Bracamonte presented the paper at the conference;Submitted: Yes;Refereed: Yes;Collaborative with graduate student: Yes;Collaborative with faculty member at UA: Yes;Type of Presentation: Professional Organization;
- Romero, A. J., Valencia, C., & Montano, S. (2012, 2012-11-01). Latino Educational Inequity: Student Resilience through strategies of civic engagment and action research. National Latino/a Psychological Association. New Brunswick, New Jersey.More info;Your Role: primary author working with undergraduate and graduate student.;Submitted: Yes;Collaborative with undergraduate student: Yes;Collaborative with graduate student: Yes;Type of Presentation: Professional Organization;
- Romero, A. J. (2011, 2011-10-01). Mental Health of Latina Girls & Teens: Gender, Peer, Family & Culture.. Girl's and Women's Health Across the Lifespan Conference.. Phoenix, Arizona.More infoRomero, A.J. (2011). Mental Health of Latina Girls & Teens: Gender, Peer, Family & Culture. Girl's and Women's Health Across the Lifespan Conference. Arizona Department of Public Health. Phoenix, Arizona. ;Invited: Yes;Type of Presentation: Community Outreach;
- Romero, A. J. (2011, 2012-02-01). Undergraduate student coping and stress responses to state policy campaigns and decision making.. University of Arizona.More info;Your Role: primary author and presenter;Invited: Yes;Interdisciplinary: Yes;Collaborative with faculty member in unit: Yes;Type of Presentation: University;
- Romero, A. J. (2010, 2008-04-01). Ethnic identity and substance use prevention curriculum among Latino adolescents.. Hablemos: Latino Cultural Competency Training. Tucson Arizona.More infoI tried to upload this presentation, but the system wouldn't let me;Invited: Yes;Type of Presentation: Community Outreach;
- Romero, A. J. (2010, 2008-12-01). Youth activism to prevent underage drinking: investigating and sharing results of the alcohol retailer mapping project. MASRC Brown Bag. Tucson, Arizona.More infoThis was a presentation at the University that was in collaboration with the community agency and youth that have worked with me on the research. ;Type of Presentation: Community Outreach;
- Romero, A. J. (2010, 2009-04-01). Un Pueblo Unido: Resiliency found in ethnic identity and family context in response to adversity in higher education. National Association for Chicano/a Studies. New Brunswick, New Jersey.More info;Your Role: I am P.I. on the dataset and primary author/presenter;Submitted: Yes;Collaborative with undergraduate student: Yes;Collaborative with graduate student: Yes;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
- Romero, A. J., & Edwards, L. (2010, 2008-06-01). Bicultural context and adolescent substance use.. International Conference of Social Stress. Santa Fe, New Mexico.More info;Your Role: I was primary author and presented the work at the conference;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: ;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
- Romero, A. J., & Edwards, L. (2010, 2008-06-01). Coping with discrimination stress among Mexican descent adolescents.. International Conference of Social Stress. Santa Fe, New Mexico.More info;Your Role: I was secondary author, but prepared and presented the presentation at the conference, the first author was not able to attend. ;Submitted: Yes;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: ;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
- Romero, A. J., Edwards, L., Fryber, ., & S., . (2010, 2009-03-01). Resilience against Prejudice & Discrimination Protective Effects of Positive Ethnic Identity Development. McClelland Institute Conference. Tucson, Arizona.More info;Your Role: I was primary author and presented at the conference;Invited: Yes;Collaborative with faculty member at UA: Yes;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: Lisa Edwards is located at Marquette University;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference/Workshop;
- Romero, A. J., Edwards, L., Fryberg, ., & S., . (2010, 2008-11-01). Adolescent resilience model for discrimination: Protective effects of ethnic identity.. National Latina/o Psychological Association. Orange County, California.More info;Your Role: I was primary author and P.I. of the dataset and presented at the conference;Submitted: Yes;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
- Romero, A. J. (2008, 2008-04-01). Ethnic identity and substance use prevention curriculum among Latino adolescents.. Hablemos: Latino Cultural Competency Training. Tucson Arizona.More infoI tried to upload this presentation, but the system wouldn't let me;Invited: Yes;Type of Presentation: Community Outreach;
- Romero, A. J. (2008, 2008-12-01). Youth activism to prevent underage drinking: investigating and sharing results of the alcohol retailer mapping project. MASRC Brown Bag. Tucson, Arizona.More infoThis was a presentation at the University that was in collaboration with the community agency and youth that have worked with me on the research. ;Type of Presentation: Community Outreach;
- Romero, A. J. (2008, 2009-04-01). Un Pueblo Unido: Resiliency found in ethnic identity and family context in response to adversity in higher education. National Association for Chicano/a Studies. New Brunswick, New Jersey.More info;Your Role: I am P.I. on the dataset and primary author/presenter;Submitted: Yes;Collaborative with undergraduate student: Yes;Collaborative with graduate student: Yes;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
- Romero, A. J., & Edwards, L. (2008, 2008-06-01). Bicultural context and adolescent substance use.. International Conference of Social Stress. Santa Fe, New Mexico.More info;Your Role: I was primary author and presented the work at the conference;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: ;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
- Romero, A. J., & Edwards, L. (2008, 2008-06-01). Coping with discrimination stress among Mexican descent adolescents.. International Conference of Social Stress. Santa Fe, New Mexico.More info;Your Role: I was secondary author, but prepared and presented the presentation at the conference, the first author was not able to attend. ;Submitted: Yes;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: ;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
- Romero, A. J., Edwards, L., Fryber, ., & S., . (2008, 2009-03-01). Resilience against Prejudice & Discrimination Protective Effects of Positive Ethnic Identity Development. McClelland Institute Conference. Tucson, Arizona.More info;Your Role: I was primary author and presented at the conference;Invited: Yes;Collaborative with faculty member at UA: Yes;Other collaborative: Yes;Specify other collaborative: Lisa Edwards is located at Marquette University;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference/Workshop;
- Romero, A. J., Edwards, L., Fryberg, ., & S., . (2008, 2008-11-01). Adolescent resilience model for discrimination: Protective effects of ethnic identity.. National Latina/o Psychological Association. Orange County, California.More info;Your Role: I was primary author and P.I. of the dataset and presented at the conference;Submitted: Yes;Type of Presentation: Academic Conference;
Poster Presentations
- Curran, M. A., Toomey, R. B., Romero, A. J., & Rodas, J. M. (2018, April). The association between ambiguous loss of family relationships and depressive symptoms among Latino youth. Society for Research on Adolescence Biennial Meeting. Minneapolis, MN: Society for Research on Adolesence.
- Toomey, R. B., Romero, A. J., Wray-Lake, L., & Shramko, M. (2018, April). Latent classes of civic opportunity among Latina/o youth: An intersectional examination of civic inequality in adolescence. Society for Research on Adolescence Biennial Meeting. Minneapolis, MN: Society for Research on Adolesence.
- Kim, S., Romero, A. J., & Partida, C. (2017, Fall). Creating college-going culture through middle school led youth participatory action research: Unity for change, Believe in Us!. National Council on Family Relations Conference. Orlando, Florida: NCFR.More infoRC2
- Romero, A. J., Bauman, S. A., Borgstrom, M., & Kim, S. (2017, August). Ten-year trends in suicidality, bullying and gun carrying among Latina/o youth in the United States.. European Health Psychology Conference. Padova, Italy: European Health Psychology.More infoRC2
- Rodas, J., Romero, A. J., & Moreno, M. (2014, October). Parental fear of children’s loss of language and familism.. National Latina/o Psychological Association National Conference. Albuquerque, New Mexico: National Latina/o Psychological Association.
Reviews
- Romero, A. J. (2018. Review of Book Proposal for Youth Research(pp 40 pages). Tucson, Arizona.
- Romero, A. J. (2018. Review of Chicano/a Psychology Handbook(pp 550 pages of already published book). Tucson, Arizona.More infoThis was a review of a handbook.
Others
- Romero, A. J. (2018, Fall). 2018 Romero, A. (2018). Expert interview on mental health service access fort immigrant children. https://kvoa.com/news/2018/09/09/trump-administration-faces-lawsuit-to-cover-mental-health-costs-after-family-separation/. KVOA Tucson Television news.More infoThis was an invited expert interview about mental health and immigrant of children
- Romero, A. J. (2018, Fall). 2018 Romero, A. (2018). Expert interview on psychological impact on detained children. Arizona Public Media Television Interview. https://tv.azpm.org/p/az360stories/2018/8/3/134419-what-psychological-impact-do-detained-children-face/. Arizona Public Media Television.More infoI was invited to do an expert interview to discuss the health and well-being of immigrant children.
- Romero, A. J. (2018, Spring). 2018 Romero, A. (2018). Expert Interview on youth civic engagement and mental health. Arizona Illustrated. Arizona Public Media.. Arizona Public Media.More infoThis was an expert interview for. special segment on youth civic engagement.
- Romero, A. J. (2018, Summer). Expert Consultant for New Measure of Coping with Youth. NIH Grant.More infoI served as an NIH grant expert consultant for the creation of a new coping measure with youth. I reviewed materials and participated in meetings. 2018 National Institute for Health Title: Acculturation, Stress and Adolescent Health P.I.: Schwartz, S.J. Role: Expert Consultant
- Jenkins, J., Gomez, R., & Romero, A. J. (2016, November). Speak up, lift up, fall back:What we need from social justice allies. Diverse Issues in Higher Education.
- Romero, A. &. (2011). Undergraduate student responses to Arizona's “Anti-ethnic studies” bill: Implications for mental health..More info;Your Role: primary author, my dataset and analysis.;Full Citation: Romero, A.J. & O'Leary, A.O. (2011). Undergraduate student responses to Arizona's “Anti-ethnic studies” bill: Implications for mental health. UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, Policy Brief. No. 26, August 2011.;Collaborative with faculty member in unit: Yes;Type of Publication: Policy Brief;
- Romero, A. J., & Campen, V. (2010). Living in two cultures: Implications for Latino Adolescent Health.More infoThis report is offered on-line through the McClelland Institute;Your Role: I am second co-author;Full Citation: Van Campen, K.S. & Romero.A.J. (2009). Living in two cultures: Implications for Latino Adolescent Health. McClelland Institute for Children, Youth, and Families Research Link, Vol. 1, No. 6). Tucson, Arizona: The University of Arizona;Electronic: Yes;Collaborative with graduate student: Yes;
- Romero, A. J., & Campen, V. (2008). Living in two cultures: Implications for Latino Adolescent Health.More infoThis report is offered on-line through the McClelland Institute;Your Role: I am second co-author;Full Citation: Van Campen, K.S. & Romero.A.J. (2009). Living in two cultures: Implications for Latino Adolescent Health. McClelland Institute for Children, Youth, and Families Research Link, Vol. 1, No. 6). Tucson, Arizona: The University of Arizona;Electronic: Yes;Collaborative with graduate student: Yes;