Ana Maria Melendez Guevara

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Research Associate at Arizona State University

Much of the literature linking adversity to trauma fails to account for racialized experiences, including racial-ethnic discrimination, which is a highly prevalent form of adversity for youth of color in the U.S. Adversity and trauma often result in students experiencing elevated rule-breaking behaviors, exacerbating existing racial-ethnic disparit...

In recent years, the focus on student safety and well-being has intensified within educational settings, driven by national crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and school shootings and rates of student mental health decline. School mental health professionals (SMHPs) such as school counselors and school social workers are resources that schools ca...

Service engagement is critical when working with children and families experiencing chronic adversities because of their socially marginalized status. Further, sociodemographic disparities exist in service engagement within service systems including Community-Based Behavioral Health; likely in part, a result of structural issues driving unresponsiv...

Introduction Research suggests that one of the most pervasive consequences of traumatic events is the resulting dysregulation of emotions. Educators, including teachers, administrators, and student services staff, are instrumental in supporting students as they navigate overwhelming emotions by modeling and teaching skills to regulate emotional sta...

The increased awareness of the detrimental consequences of trauma exposure has led researchers to focus their attention in identifying best practices on integrating trauma-informed approaches (TIAs) to child and family services. Yet, terms related to TIAs are often utilized without an adequate definition, and most importantly, without concrete and...

Limited work has focused on understanding mechanisms through which violence negatively impacts youth outcomes. The present study investigates how three different facets of violence exposure (witnessing violence, victimization and armed conflict) relate to Colombian youth externalizing behaviors via the indirect influence of aggressive cognitions an...

While the negative impact of extensive exposure to community violence and armed conflict is known, less emphasis has been focused on outcomes supportive of resilience. It is critical to begin exploring these constructs to both promote healing from decades-long conflict and to inform targeted interventions that focus on positive youth development in...

Using a multilevel ecological framework, we take a qualitative approach to examining important cultural considerations that support successful implementation of trauma-informed services within the Latinx community. We conducted key informant interviews with community practitioners recruited primarily in the Phoenix, AZ metro area. Themes that emerg...