Pablo Montero-Zamora

University of Texas at Austin | UT · Department of Kinesiology and Health Education

Communities That Care (CTC) is a prevention system aimed at reducing antisocial behaviors in adolescents. In Colombia, this system has been developed and adapted under the name of Comunidades Que se Cuidan (CQC). Successful implementation of CQC depends on valid associations between measured risk and protective factors (RPFs) for substance use and...

Reducing youth alcohol use is a public health priority that can be addressed by implementing evidence-based preventive interventions (EBPIs) with high fidelity. However, when EBPIs are delivered in a new geographical setting, lack of contextual fit might interfere with expected effects. The purpose of our study was to understand the contextual fit...

Underage drinking represents a major global health problem. Given the crisis that underage drinking represents, Tomando Buenas Decisiones, a family-based prevention program, was adapted and piloted in Mexico based on the existing Guiding Good Choices program. Although family-based interventions in the USA are promising for preventing underage drink...

As part of the Global Smart Drinking Goals campaign launched in 2018 in 6 “City Pilots” around the world, the Businesses That Care (BTC; Empresas Que se Cuidan in Spanish) prevention system was developed and implemented in Zacatecas, Mexico. BTC is a private business sector adaptation of the Communities That Care prevention system. BTC is designed...

Alcohol use represents a global health problem, especially for Latin American youth. As part of the Global Smart Drinking Goals campaign, a family‐based preventive intervention was adapted and piloted in Mexico based on an existing evidence‐based program, Guiding Good Choices. In this study, we explored the malleability and session‐specific mean‐le...

Background The ongoing humanitarian crisis in Venezuela has triggered a substantial migration exodus, with Peru emerging as a primary destination for Venezuelan refugees. Since 2016, approximately 1.8 million Venezuelans have migrated to Peru, resulting in significant challenges for both the migrants and the host country. Objectives This study, con...

Purpose We present a psychometric evaluation of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Boston Form (CES-D-B) for use with different Latino subgroups as there is inconsistency regarding its performance across subgroups of Latinos, a large and rapidly growing cultural group in the United States. Methods We evaluated the reliability and stru...

This study aimed to examine the rejection–identification model (RIM) within a community sample of undocumented Hispanic immigrants in the United States, a unique and vulnerable population who face distinct legal and sociopolitical challenges. The RIM posits that ethnic discrimination is associated with increased identification with one’s ethnic gro...

The present study investigates the perceived impact of cultural and family-economic stressors on the mental health and well-being of Ukrainian migrants in the United States who arrived either pre- or post-Russian invasion. We used a range of tools for assessment, including the general anxiety disorder (GAD-7), CESD-B-10, Harvard Trauma Questionnair...

The aim of the present study was to develop and validate the Immigration‐Related Political Ideology Scale (IRPIS), designed to measure diverse political perspectives on immigration among US voters. The IRPIS was developed following a series of focus groups and refined through a systematic item‐generation process involving expert panels. The scale w...

Research shows the impact of cultural stressors (e.g. perceived discrimination, bicultural stressors, negative context of reception) on adolescents' psychosocial outcomes. Given the presence of multiple cultural stressors in many Hispanic adolescents' lives, it is essential to examine the (a) developmental sequencing of cultural stressors among rec...

Objective: The objective of the present study was to identify factors associated with increased alcohol use during the COVID-19 pandemic among a sample of drinkers and heavy drinkers US-born Latino adults. Methods: Hierarchal logistic regression modelling was employed to evaluate associations between the increased use of alcohol during the pandemic...

Objective: The present research examines the disparities among Ukrainians residing in the United States, comparing Ukrainians who migrated before the February 2022 Russian invasion against those who arrived afterward. We compare these two cohorts vis-a-vis anxiety, depressive symptoms, optimism, posttraumatic stress, life satisfaction, family econo...

Latine university students represent 21.7% of the U.S. undergraduate student body, yet limited research explores their experiences with cultural stressors, self-esteem, and identity. This study examines the relationship between daily self-esteem and negative context of reception, moderated by two identity processes: normative identity style to host...

The present study investigates the perceived impact of cultural and family-economic stressors on the mental health and well-being of Ukrainian migrants in the United States who arrived either pre-or post-Russian invasion. We used a range of tools for assessment, including the GAD-7, CESD-B-10, HTQ-22, PTSD-17, LOT-R-10, AUDIT, PDS-7, PCR-6, Languag...

Objectives: Crucial to the resettlement experiences of immigrants is the degree to which the receiving country accepts them and affords them social support and opportunities. Through the factor structure and incremental validity of scores generated by the Negative Context of Reception (NCR) Scale, in the present study, we examine Indian American yo...

Internalizing symptoms associated with anxiety and depression have been correlated with harmful alcohol use among Latino/as, but little attention has been paid to assessing the association between perceived discrimination and harmful alcohol use. The present study was designed to investigate the association between perceived discrimination, interna...

Hurricane María caused significant devastation on the island of Puerto Rico, impacting thousands of lives. Puerto Rican crisis migrant families faced stress related to displacement and relocation (cultural stress), often exhibited mental health symptoms, and experienced distress at the family level. Although cultural stress has been examined as an...

The present study examines the extent to which culturally stressful experiences may predict impaired well-being, increased internalizing symptoms (depression and anxiety), and increased externalizing problems (social aggression, physical aggression, and rule breaking) among a sample of Hispanic college students in Miami across a 12-day period. The...

The uncertainty brought about by COVID-19 in times of mass migration adds an extra layer of perceived threat and competition for resources among host residents in migrant-receiving societies. This convergence of perceived threat potentially exacerbates implicit stereotypes about immigrants and can increase intergroup discord. We used panel data and...

Introduction: Although Indian Americans constitute the second-largest immigrant group in the United States, there is a paucity of information about Indian American youth, particularly with respect to substance use risk. We examined the relationship of social factors to permissive substance use beliefs (a proxy for substance use risk since they can...

For decades, human ecosystem disruptions (HEDs), including pandemics, natural disasters, and socio-economic crises, have shaped national and international responses affecting everyday life. These disruptions present challenges and opportunities for prevention science to address emerging behavioral and mental health research questions, intervention...

Purpose: We examined the extent to which depressive symptomatology measures operate across different Latino subgroups as there is inconsistency regarding its performance across Latinos, a large and rapidly growing cultural group in the United States. Methods: We evaluated the reliability and structural validity of the scores generated by the Center...

Anxiety is the most prevalent mental health disorder among adults worldwide. Given its increased prevalence among migrants due to their marginalized position in the societies where they reside, psychometric evaluations of anxiety measures such as the Generalized Anxiety Disorder–7 (GAD-7) are needed for use with migrants. The present study is the f...

The present study examines the extent to which culturally stressful experiences may predict impaired well-being, increased internalizing symptoms (depression and anxiety), and increased externalizing problems (social aggression, physical aggression, and rule breaking) among a sample of Hispanic college students in Miami, across a 12-day period. The...

Youth alcohol use (AU) is a major global health problem. Tomando Buenas Decisiones (TBD), an adapted family-based prevention program based on the existing Guiding Good Choices program, was piloted and tested in Zacatecas, Mexico. We examined the effects of the TBD program on reducing family risk for youth AU. We used a quasi-experimental design com...

Mass migration and COVID-19 represent two converging challenges affecting immigrant-receiving countries. Our understanding of intergroup emotion profiles—positive (happiness, hope, and sympathy) and negative (anger, fear, and disgust)—among members of immigrant destination societies in times of global uncertainty remains limited. Drawing from panel...

Objectives: Following Hurricane Maria, scores of Puerto Rican “Maria migrants” fled the island with thousands permanently resettling on the United States (U.S.) mainland. Emerging evidence suggests that many Maria migrants are exposed to migration-related cultural stressors, including discrimination, negative context of reception, and language stre...

Este estudio cualitativo describe las experiencias de migración venezolana, desde la perspectiva de los contextos de salida y recepción, cambios en las relaciones familiares y síntomas depresivos. A partir de información cualitativa de preguntas abiertas a 647 migrantes y de cuatro grupos focales con 29 personas llevados a cabo en Bogotá y la Flori...

The study aims to assess the cost and effectiveness of "Tomando Buenas Decisiones" (TBD), a preventive program designed to strengthen parent-child interactions and mitigate risk factors associated with adolescent substance use. Conducted in Zacatecas, Mexico, it uses data collected during TBD's implementation across four private companies to measur...

The political climate often changes following the installment of a new president. This volatility presents opportunities for examining how elections might affect vulnerable subgroups such as Hispanic/Latino (HL) adolescents. The present study explored the perception of negative political climate among HL adolescents before and after the 2020 U.S. p...

Objective: We examined the role of personal identity vis-à-vis COVID-related outcomes among college students from seven U.S. campuses during spring/summer 2021. Participants: The present sample consisted of 1,688 students (74.5% female, age range 18-29). The sample was ethnically diverse, and 57.3% were first-generation students. Procedures: Studen...

Scholarly citation represents one of the most common and essential elements of psychological science, from publishing research, to writing grant proposals, to presenting research at academic conferences. However, when authors mischaracterize prior research findings in their studies, such instances of miscitation call into question the reliability a...

This study examined the extent to which the Negative Context of Reception Scale generates valid and reliable scores with Puerto Rican Hurricane Maria survivors. A sample of 319 adult Hurricane Maria survivors completed measures of the negative context of reception, discrimination, language stress, depressive and anxiety symptoms, optimism, and life...

Hurricane Maria (2017) caused great damage to Puerto Rico, undermining people’s quality of life and forcing thousands to migrate to the U.S. mainland. Identifying individuals at elevated risk of suffering mental health problems as a function of being exposed to hurricane and cultural stress is crucial to reducing the burden of such health outcomes....

Aims: Little work has considered the effects of salient interpersonal processes on the successful implementation and receipt of community-based interventions within randomized control trial designs. Method: Using data from the intervention arm (n = 120) of Nuestras Familias: Andando Entre Culturas (Our Families: Walking Between Cultures)-a commu...

Purpose: In September 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico. Houses were destroyed, millions of people lost power and access to clean water, and many roads were flooded and blocked. In the years following the storm, hundreds of thousands of people have left Puerto Rico and settled on the U.S. mainland. The purpose of this study is to examine...

Background The role of immigration policies as political determinants of health among US-born Latinos is significantly understudied. Immigration policies can produce immigration-related stressors that have ‘spill over’ effects on the health behaviors of US-born Latinos. However, less is known about how immigration-related stressors relate to substa...

Since 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on morbidity and mortality around the world. As one of the most successful and cost-effective health interventions for preventing infectious diseases, immunization against SARS-CoV-2, is at the moment the most effective strategy for controlling the current pandemic. Despite the high vac...

We identify subtypes of Venezuelan youth based on patterns of technology-based communication with friends in their receiving (US) and sending (Venezuela) countries and, in turn, examine the behavioral health characteristics among different “subtypes” of youth. Using data from 402 recently-arrived Venezuelan immigrant youth (ages 10–17), latent prof...

Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF)—giving infants only breast milk for the first 6 months of life—is a component of optimal breastfeeding practices effective in preventing child morbidity and mortality. EBF practices are known to vary by population and comparable subnational estimates of prevalence and progress across low- and middle-income countries (L...

Objectives: Millions of Venezuelans have left their country in search of safety and stability in the United States (U.S.) and Colombia, two countries where recent increases in anti-immigrant rhetoric and sentiment have occurred. The Perceived Negative Context of Reception Scale captures the degree to which immigrants report feeling that people from...

Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF)—giving infants only breast-milk for the first 6 months of life—is a component of optimal breastfeeding practices effective in preventing child morbidity and mortality. EBF practices are known to vary by population and comparable subnational estimates of prevalence and progress across low- and middle-income countries (L...

It is often the case that communities in lower- and middle-income countries do not have the requisite capacity to embark on large prevention system implementation. This study presents an adaptation of the Communities That Care (CTC) prevention system for private businesses, called Businesses That Care (BTC). BTC uses a local private company network...

Youth alcohol use is still a major global health problem. In response to the health burden that youth alcohol use represents, a family-based preventive intervention, Tomando Buenas Decisiones (TBD) was adapted for, and piloted in, Mexico based on an existing evidence-based program, Guiding Good Choices (GGC; Catalano et al., 1998). In the present s...

Introduction: In order to maximize reach and sustainability, e-Familias Unidas, an adaptation of an evidence-based, family-centered intervention that aims to prevent Hispanic adolescent behavioral problems through improving family functioning, was adapted to be delivered exclusively through the internet. The purpose of this feasibility trial was to...

As the identification and targeting of salient risk factors for adolescent substance use become more widely used globally, an essential question arises as to whether U.S.-based cut points in the distributions of these risk factors that identify “high” risk can be used validly in other countries as well. This study examined proportions of youth at “...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Youth alcohol use constitutes a major public health concern worldwide. Reducing underage drinking is a public health priority that can be addressed by implementing evidence-based preventive interventions (EBPIs) with high-fidelity. However, when EBPIs have to be delivered in a new geographical setting, high-fidelity could become a threat to expecte...

A double burden of malnutrition occurs when individuals, household members or communities experience both undernutrition and overweight. Here, we show geospatial estimates of overweight and wasting prevalence among children under 5 years of age in 105 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) from 2000 to 2017 and aggregate these to policy-relevant...

Program Area: Joint considerations of fidelity and real-world "adjustments" to intervention implementation Guiding Good Choices (GGC) is a drug use prevention program that provides parents of children in grades 4 through 8 (9 to 14 years old) with the knowledge and skills needed to guide their children through early adolescence. It seeks to strengt...

Background To date, the burden of injury in Mexico has not been comprehensively assessed using recent advances in population health research, including those in the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017 (GBD 2017). Methods We used GBD 2017 for burden of unintentional injury estimates, including transport injuries, for Mexico and each state in Mexico...

Communities That Care (CTC) is a prevention system aimed at reducing antisocial behaviors in adolescents. In Colombia, this system has been developed and adapted under the name of Comunidades Que se Cuidan (CQC). Successful implementation of CQC depends on valid associations between measured risk and protective factors (RPFs) for substance use and...

Background Cirrhosis and other chronic liver diseases (collectively referred to as cirrhosis in this paper) are a major cause of morbidity and mortality globally, although the burden and underlying causes differ across locations and demographic groups. We report on results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2...

BACKGROUND: Cirrhosis and other chronic liver diseases (collectively referred to as cirrhosis in this paper) are a major cause of morbidity and mortality globally, although the burden and underlying causes differ across locations and demographic groups. We report on results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD)...

Background: Cirrhosis and other chronic liver diseases (collectively referred to as cirrhosis in this paper) are a major cause of morbidity and mortality globally, although the burden and underlying causes differ across locations and demographic groups. We report on results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD)...

Background The epidemiological transition of non-communicable diseases replacing infectious diseases as the main contributors to disease burden has been well documented in global health literature. Less focus, however, has been given to the relationship between sociodemographic changes and injury. The aim of this study was to examine the associatio...

BACKGROUND: The epidemiological transition of non-communicable diseases replacing infectious diseases as the main contributors to disease burden has been well documented in global health literature. Less focus, however, has been given to the relationship between sociodemographic changes and injury. The aim of this study was to examine the associati...

Introduction: The recent exodus of Venezuelans fleeing their country has reached epidemic proportions. According to recent figures, approximately 1.5 to 4 million Venezuelans—about 5 – 10% of the population (e.g., Paez, 2015)—have left Venezuela within the past few years. Most Venezuelans have emigrated to neighboring Colombia, with the second larg...

Background. According to the last Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD 2017), liver cirrhosis was the 4th leading cause of death in Mexico, positioning this country 30th globally in terms of liver cirrhosis mortality. Objective. The primary objective is to provide a systematic overview of liver cirrhosis mortality for the 32 states of Mexico by age...

Over 3,000 adolescents die worldwide daily (~1.2 million deaths per year). The three main causes of adolescent mortality are road traffic injuries, self-harm, and interpersonal violence. Risk factors for these three main causes are alcohol and drug use (ADU). We aim to compare: 1) Adolescent mortality rates for gun-related (GunR) self-harm and GunR...

Abstract Introduction: Communities That Care (CTC) is a prevention system aimed at reducing antisocial behaviors in adolescents. In Colombia, this system has been developed and adapted under the name of Comunidades Que se Cuidan (CQC). Successful implementation of CQC depends on valid associations between measured risk and protective factors (RPFs)...

Si bien la mortalidad materna en México ha disminuido notablemente, se debe seguir trabajando para cumplir con los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible, en particular con los objetivos 3 y 5, considerando las condiciones locales de los servicios de salud en el marco de los determinantes sociales (oms, 2009). Una de las estrategias aprobadas mundialme...

The Global Burden of Disease 2015 study aims to use all available data of sufficient quality to generate reliable and valid prevalence, incidence, and disability-adjusted life year (DALY) estimates of oral conditions for the period of 1990 to 2015. Since death as a direct result of oral diseases is rare, DALY estimates were based on years lived wit...

Objetivo: Se realizó un diagnóstico situacional de la cirrosis hepática en México a nivel estatal a partir del análisis del Estudio de la Carga de la Enfermedad 2013 (GBD 2013). Metodología:El presente consistió en un estudio ecológico con sentido exploratorio. Se buscaron patrones que sugirieran etiologías sociodemográficas específicas para México...

Background: Child and maternal health outcomes have notably improved in Mexico since 1990, whereas rising adult mortality rates defy traditional epidemiological transition models in which decreased death rates occur across all ages. These trends suggest Mexico is experiencing a more complex, dissonant health transition than historically observed....

Background: Improving survival and extending the longevity of life for all populations requires timely, robust evidence on local mortality levels and trends. The Global Burden of Disease 2015 Study (GBD 2015) provides a comprehensive assessment of all-cause and cause-specific mortality for 249 causes in 195 countries and territories from 1980 to 2...