Exposure to violence is a social, political, and public health concern. In the United States, one in four children experience a violent or traumatic event each year. Younger children and ethnic minorities are at especially high risk for violence exposure. With this in mind, my research is driven by three questions:
1) What differentiates developmental pathways of psychopathology and resilience following violence exposure?
Studies predict that between one-third and one-half of children exposed to violence develop post-traumatic stress disorder. While my research aims to understand why they do, I am also interested in why many children do not. I do this by taking a developmental psychopathology approach to postviolence adjustment. Doing so reveals novel patterns of symptom presentation across the lifespan. It also allows me to explore the overlaps of individual, family, and social level factors that shape risk and resilience following violence exposure.
My current projects on this question focus on how family context affect child outcomes. They include a CDC K01 funded project on the ways parental fear processes connect parental posttraumatic stress systems to preschooler functioning.
2) What effects do cultural systems and social context have on mental health?
Across my research, I examine violence exposure and the effects of violence in ethno-racially diverse individuals. Linking cultural approaches to mental health with developmental psychopathology, I have examined ethno-racial differences in risk factors for mental health as well as disparities in the development of mental health problems following exposure to violence. I apply a health equity perspective to understand when those differences are unjust products of discriminatory experiences and unequal access to social resources.
My current projects on this question center on the ways interpersonal, historical, and structural discrimination produce disparate outcomes following violence exposure. Among other findings, they suggest coping strategies deemed most effective for promoting healthy outcomes in White, heterosexual adults do not have those same positive effects in racial/ethnic and sexual/gender minorities. Future research will examine how generational status, immigration status, social support, and other factors affect mental health outcomes in diverse populations.
3) How can community-based interventions improve outcomes following violence?
I conduct translational research (i.e., using basic studies to inform intervention, and vice versa) to adapt current interventions in ways that might promote better short- and long-term outcomes for individuals with chronic violence exposure. By working with community partners, I seek to tailor evidence-based treatment models to better address the needs of diverse people exposed to chronic trauma and increase treatment gains.
With support from the UCLA HIV/AIDS, Substance Use, and Trauma Training program I am completing a pilot study of moderators of the links between adverse childhood experiences, recent IPV, and mental health and substance use in young adult women. As this study identifies which aspects of social support exert the most beneficial effects at this point in development it will inform community-driven programs that seek to promote positive outcomes early in adulthood and disrupt emergent cycles of violence