Omar Gudino

• University of Kansas

Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation (STAIR) plus Narrative Therapy—Adolescent Version (SNT-A; Cloitre et al., Skills training in affective and interpersonal regulation for adolescents—revised version (unpublished manual) is an evidence-based psychosocial intervention for adolescents with trauma-related difficulties. As its nam...

Objectives: Latinx immigrant youth are at greater risk for mental health (MH) concerns than their nonimmigrant Latinx peers. Efforts to address mental health disparities have resulted in the much-needed development of theoretical frameworks explaining mental health disparities in marginalized populations. A theoretical framework that is particularl...

Whether Latinx families use youth mental health services (MHS) depends on complex influences of barriers and facilitators within and outside of the home. This research sought to shed light on caregiver strain as part of the equation focused on parental identification and responses to youth mental health needs. We examined multiple dimensions of car...

Caregiver strain or stress directly related to caring for a youth with emotional and/or behavioral problems may be an important and understudied cultural factor associated with mental health disparities among Latinx families. Caregiver strain is a highly relevant construct for research questions focused on the identification of youth's mental healt...

Adverse life events are associated with greater internalizing symptoms. However, prior research has identified cross-cultural variation in whether and to what extent factors amplify or buffer the impact of these stressors. Broadly defined as the tendency to focus on past, present, or future events, temporal orientation is a dispositional factor tha...

The current study aimed to identify profiles of youth presenting with a unique combination of environmental characteristics and understand the differential relationship between profile membership, anxiety, and depression symptoms. Data were drawn from 158 Latino youth between the ages of 11 and 13. Youth provided information on community violence e...

Unique challenges associated with dual involvement in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems are well documented. However, there is a paucity of research focusing on the out-of-home placement experiences of youth involved in the justice system and implications for relevant outcomes. The current study examined out-of-home placement experienc...

Youth from historically marginalized racial and/or ethnic backgrounds often face discrimination, oppression, prejudice, racism, and segregation (DOPRS). These experiences, in turn, impact well-being and psychological functioning. Though the field of clinical child psychology is on the path to address DOPRS in clinical practice, there is sparce guid...

The Latinx population is currently the largest ethnic minority group in the USA. Moreover, studies demonstrate that Latinx youth are at a higher risk for exposure to community violence and for negative school outcomes compared to their non-Latinx white peers. Though more attention has been devoted to understanding negative school outcomes, there is...

Youth involved in the juvenile justice system are at risk for a multitude of psychological and adjustment difficulties. Unfortunately, oftentimes these individuals do not receive the services needed. Attitudes toward mental health services contribute to whether an individual receives help; yet little is known about factors that are associated with...

Background Although the link between substance use and criminal behavior is well-established, associations between the use of specific substances and specific criminal charges remains unclear. That is, there are mixed findings in the literature, and the majority of extant literature focuses only on associations between alcohol and marijuana use and...

Research highlights distinct temperamental, cultural, and behavioral characteristics that may contribute to the differential experience and impact of acculturative stress in Latinx youth. The current study aims to explain the risk of developing anxiety and depression by clarifying how acculturative stress interacts with individual temperamental (be...

Background School adaptation is a critical risk or resilience factor for at-risk youth. Objective The overall aim was to improve our conceptualization of school adaptation as a risk or resilience factor for youth in contact with the child welfare system. We hypothesized that school adaptation includes a range of indicators that would distinguish y...

The assessment of internalizing symptoms among incarcerated juveniles is limited. Untreated internalizing symptoms can lead to both problems within the facility as well as a higher likelihood of recidivism. However, more research is needed to understand how specific types of symptoms experienced (i.e., depressive vs. anxiety symptoms) are associate...

CBT is a widely applied psychotherapeutic approach. The Residency Requirements Committee of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education urges training programs to provide supervision in CBT. Good supervision emphasizes a competency-based model in which various rudimentary skills and procedures must be harvested. Trainees' progress must...

Background Caregiver strain is directly impacted by youth symptom severity and is a robust predictor of youth mental health service utilization. A closer examination of caregiver strain may provide important insights into understanding mental health disparities as they affect Latino families.Objective This study examined the impact of youth problem...

Background Ethnic disparities in academic outcomes persist for Latinx youth in the U.S. Therefore, identifying factors that promote academic success in this population is essential.Objective This study examined the interacting effect of components of hope (agency and pathways) and daytime sleepiness on academic outcomes (teacher-reported school eng...

This study examined the association between the sleep environment and sleep disturbances in 44 low-income Latinx youth. Participants reported an average of 2.10 past-week ambient sleep disruptions. Most participants slept in a bed (89%) and at home (93%) seven nights out of the previous week. Past-week ambient sleep disruptions were cross-sectional...

Roughly 88% of Latinx youth in the United States have unmet mental health needs. Studies have examined barriers to treatment, though few have explicitly examined solutions for eliminating ethnic disparities, or considered more than one stakeholder viewpoint at a time. Thus, the current study utilized narrative data from multiple stakeholders to dir...

Latinx youth are less likely to receive mental health services (MHS) than their non-Hispanic White counterparts. Disparities in MHS use have also been shown to vary by type of mental health problem and indices of caregiver culture even within Latinx samples, suggesting the need to go beyond cross-group racial/ethnic comparisons. However, much of th...

Introduction Youth from low socioeconomic status families are at elevated risk of sleep problems (El Sheikh et al., 2013). Although the sleep environment (e.g., bedding, temperature, electronics, light) contributes to sleep problems across all youth, it may be of particular concern for youth residing in low-income households and/or neighborhoods du...

Despite increased recognition of disparities in youth mental health, racial/ethnic disparities in mental health burden and in mental health service use persist. This phenomenon suggests that research documenting disparities alone has not led to extensive action in practice settings in order to significantly reduce disparities. In this commentary, w...

Children in contact with the child welfare system (CWS) represent a vulnerable population that is at an increased risk of poor mental health and academic outcomes. Although the majority of research has focused on the academic benefits of school engagement, studies have also found a negative association between school engagement and youth mental hea...

Not all youth exposed to violence are at equal risk for developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), reflecting potential variability in risk factors influencing the development of PTSD beyond exposure to violence. In particular, Latino youth have been found to be at a higher risk for developing PTSD after exposure to violence. Similarly, youth...

Despite high rates of exposure to community violence among Latino youth in urban communities, there is considerable variability in individual outcomes. This study examined (a) associations between coping and indices of Latino culture, (b) main effects of active/avoidant coping on psychopathology, and (c) whether coping moderates the impact of viole...

Research has demonstrated a link between community violence exposure (CVE) and delinquency in adolescence, but little is known about the role of cultural stressors in this relation. This study examined the moderating role of acculturation dissonance and ethnic/racial discrimination in the link between CVE and delinquency engagement in a sample of L...

Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation (STAIR) plus Narrative Therapy – Adolescent Version (SNT-A; Cloitre et al. Skills training in affective and interpersonal regulation for adolescents – revised version (Unpublished manual). National Center for PTSD, Palo Alto) is an evidence-based psychosocial intervention for adolescents wit...

The mental health of immigrants is influenced by the experiences of individuals interacting with their social contexts. Given that immigrants to the United States represent a heterogeneous group in terms of origins and experiences, understanding their mental health requires an examination of the circumstances surrounding migration and in receiving...

Limited research has examined the relation between exposure to stressors and internalizing symptoms among Latino adolescents, including factors that account for this relation. This study examined whether sleep played a role in the relation between exposure to neighborhood- (i.e., neighborhood disadvantage) and individual-level (i.e., negative life...

Background Youth placed in out-of-home care are at significant risk of low academic achievement and poor mental health. Few studies have considered the potential effects of school-related factors, such as school placement stability and school engagement, on youth outcomes. Objective The current study examined the potential main effects of school pl...

Youth who have experienced abuse, neglect, or are involved with child welfare services are at significant risk of low academic achievement and poor mental health outcomes. The literature on children involved with child welfare services has typically focused on the impact of individual, home, and community factors, but less research has considered t...

We examined the identification of trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in help-seeking urban children (N = 157) presenting for care in community mental health clinics. Children and their parents completed a standard intake assessment conducted by a community clinician followed by a structured, trauma-focused assessment conducted...

Chronic exposure to trauma disrupts the development of capacities that can support current functioning and foster resilience. However, there is little research on interventions that simultaneously enhance resilience and reduce current symptoms. This pilot study utilized a matched assessment-only comparison group design to examine the effectiveness...

El estrés de aculturación es experimentado tanto por la juventud Latina inmigrante como por la no inmigrante, y éste predice los problemas conductuales juveniles. Aunque estudios de investigación anteriores han encontrado que los factores familiares y parentales pueden proteger a los jóvenes del impacto negativo de varios estresores en el comportam...

Teacher-Child Interaction Training (TCIT), adapted from Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), is a classroom-based program designed to provide teachers with behavior management skills that foster positive teacher-student relationships and to improve student behavior by creating a more constructive classroom environment. The purpose of this pilot...

This study examined proximal risk and protective factors that contribute to academic achievement among 130 Latino students. Participating students were 56.2% female and 35.3% foreign-born (mean age = 11.38, standard deviation = .59). Acculturative stress, immigrant status, child gender, parental monitoring, traditional cultural values, mainstream v...

Despite high rates of trauma exposure (46%-96%) and significant posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; 21%–29%) symptoms in adolescent psychiatric inpatients, there is a dearth of research on effective interventions delivered in inpatient settings. The current report describes the development of Brief STAIR-A, a repeatable 3-module version of skills...

The Child PTSD Symptom Scale (Foa, Johnson, Feeny, & Treadwell, ) is a self-report measure of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms (PTSD) in children and adolescents. Despite widespread use of this measure, no study to our knowledge has examined its psychometric properties in Latino children. This study examined the factor structure, internal con...

Importance Maternal posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may be associated with increased risk for child maltreatment and child exposure to traumatic events. Exposure to multiple traumatic events is associated with a wide range of adverse health and social outcomes in children.Objective To examine the association of probable maternal depression,...

The authors examined racial/ethnic differences in pathways from maltreatment exposure to specialty mental health service use for youth in contact with the Child Welfare system. Participants included 1,600 non-Hispanic White, African American, and Latino youth (age 4-14) who were the subjects of investigations for alleged maltreatment and participat...

Latino children in urban contexts marked by poverty are at high risk of being exposed to violence and developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Nonetheless, there is great variability in individual responses to violence exposure. This study examines risk for developing re-experiencing, avoidance, and arousal symptoms of PTSD as a function of...

Objective: This study examined racial disparities in mental health service use by problem type (internalizing versus externalizing) for youths in contact with the child welfare system. Methods: Participants included 1,693 non-Hispanic white, African-American, and Hispanic youths (ages four to 14) from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent...

Trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), though prevalent among adolescent psychiatric inpatients, are underidentified in standard clinical practice. In a retrospective chart review of 140 adolescents admitted to a psychiatric inpatient unit, we examined associations between probable PTSD identified through the Child PTSD Symptom S...

Urban Latino youth are exposed to high rates of violence, which increases risk for diverse forms of psychopathology. The current study aims to increase specificity in predicting responses by testing the hypothesis that youths' reinforcement sensitivity-behavioral inhibition (BIS) and behavioral approach (BAS)-is associated with specific clinical ou...

This chapter presents information on mental health issues in Asian American children, focusing on cultural orientation and minority-related experiences as posing challenges to the maintenance of mental health, as well as providing strengths which contribute to resilience in this group. We then recommend some ways through which we may draw upon the...

We studied the efficacy and implementation outcomes of a culturally responsive parent training (PT) program. Fifty-four Chinese American parents participated in a wait-list controlled group randomized trial (32 immediate treatment, 22 delayed treatment) of a 14-week intervention designed to address the needs of high-risk immigrant families. Parents...

Latino youth in a low-income urban community are at high risk of exposure to violence. Given an accumulation of factors before, during, and following migration, immigrant youth may be at increased risk of exposure to violence and other relevant stressors (e.g., acculturation stress, language proficiency, acculturation/enculturation, and parental se...

This study examined associations between parental cultural orientation, childhood shyness, and anxiety symptoms in a sample of Hispanic American children (N = 127). Parents completed measures of their level of acculturation, collectivism, and socialization goals, while children provided self-reports of anxiety symptoms and both parents and children...

This chapter describes recent empirical findings on maltreatment identification and impact in a diverse high-risk sample of adolescents involved in public sectors of care. A set of three related research questions is addressed. The first research question concerns the extent to which race matters in the institutional identification of maltreatment...

The authors examined racial/ethnic disparities in mental health service use based on problem type (internalizing/externalizing). A diverse sample of youth in contact with public sectors of care and their families provided reports of youth's symptoms and functional impairment during an initial interview. Specialty and school-based mental health serv...

This study examined youth mental health service (MHS) use as a function of family immigrant status and type of mental health need (internalizing vs. externalizing). A sample of Hispanic and Asian/Pacific Islander families (youth ages 11–18; N=457) involved with public sectors of care provided reports of youth mental health need during an initial in...