Gustavo Loera

This study aims to explore career technical education (CTE) students' involvement in practicing and promoting mental wellness in schools and communities. Specifically, this study focused on students enrolled in a career and technical student organization (CTSO) leading youth-defined activities raising awareness of risk factors and protective factor...

A state-academic-community partnership formed in response to the mental health needs fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the disproportionate effects on marginalized communities. Taking a community-partnered approach and using a health equity lens, the partnership developed a website to guide users through digital mental health resources, prioritiz...

Reading motivation may help explain some discrepancies in higher education attainment among Latinx adolescents. Using a person-centered approach to understand underlying reading motivation profiles among N = 254 Latinx adolescents, results identified four ordered classes of reading motivation including, (a) a “High” class characterized by high moti...

Purpose: Although the Global Burden of Disease Study estimated that depressive disorders and anxiety disorders are the second and fifth leading causes of disability in Argentina, these estimates were based on imputations rather than epidemiological data. The policy implications of these results for the necessary expansion of mental health services...

A survey measure was developed to assess high school students' experience, knowledge, and self-confidence related to health care careers. In the fall and spring of one school year, the measure was administered to a diverse sample of 2,309 students participating in career academies focused on the health care industry. Confirmatory factor analyses (C...

Objective: We investigated the associations between DSM-IV mental disorders and subsequent arthritis onset, with and without mental disorder comorbidity adjustment. We aimed to determine whether specific types of mental disorders and increasing numbers of mental disorders were associated with the onset of arthritis later in life. Method: Data we...

The academic achievement rates of urban Latino students are significantly lower than those of non-minority youth. To date, most of the research on this topic has focused on learning and motivational characteristics of underrepresented youth in elementary and middle school and much less on urban high schools. This study investigated variables relate...

Drawing on social cognitive theory, this study examined the relationship between student and school-based factors (e.g., educational aspirations, quality of the program of study, and adults’ impact on college enrollment) and students’ academic engagement and satisfaction with student life in a career technical education (CTE) setting. This study so...

The social and collaborative aspects of work settings are becoming increasingly important. For example, recent research has placed emphasis on the social nature of learning. In addition, many authors have suggested that 21st century skills that will be required in future work and professional environments will involve collaborative skills, making t...

Ethnic minority groups constitute a large segment of the U.S. population and are typically underserved in terms of accessing and utilizing mental health services. We explored the perspectives and experiences of Latino stakeholders in California to help us develop community-based strategies related to access and utilization of mental health services...

Latinos are the largest and fastest growing minority group in the United States, and numerous and varied interested Latino subgroups in California stress that preventive intervention with Latino communities is imperative. Focusing on prevention and early intervention services as outlined in the Mental Health Services Act, the authors used qualitati...

This study focused on the link between parental involvement in reading and schooling and children's reading motivation. The sample consisted of 128 low-income Latino students in the second through seventh grade and their immigrant parents. The specific questions addressed were: (1) How involved are Latino parents in their children's schooling and r...

This study examined teachers’ beliefs about motivating students to read through the development of a new survey questionnaire. The current investigation reports on initial tests of the scale's reliability and validity. The items for this measure were developed from an engagement perspective to reflect the motivational constructs represented in an e...