Elizabeth Trejos-Castillo, Ph.D.

Research Focus

My research focuses on promoting the positive development and well-being of youth and adolescents across diverse contexts. My research areas include positive youth development, toxic stress, trauma, internalizing/externalizing behaviors, resilience, multisystem youth (foster youth, juvenile justice youth), and health disparities across underserved populations. My work seeks to identify the individual, family, school, community, and cultural factors that support resilience, reduce risk, and promote positive developmental outcomes.

I use interdisciplinary, cross-cultural, and cross-national comparative approaches grounded in mixed methods and participatory action research (PAR). By partnering with communities, schools, healthcare systems, and public agencies, I aim to translate research into evidence-based policies, programs, and practices that improve educational, behavioral, mental health, and social outcomes for youth and adolescents.

Over the past 30 years, I have collaborated with numerous researchers and practitioners across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa (e.g., Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Greece, Honduras, India, Nigeria, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United States) to address complex challenges affecting vulnerable youth and adolescents. My research has been supported by federal, state, and international funding agencies, including the U.S. Department of State-Fulbright Program, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), the Texas Department of Health and Human Services, Colombia's Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (South America), the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP-Brazil), and the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education, among others. I am a two-time Fulbright recipient and have edited two scholarly books and authored more than 80 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters published in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Areas of Expertise

• Positive Youth Development 
• Toxic Stress, Trauma, and Trauma-Informed Practices
• Externalizing-Internalizing Behaviors
• Ethnic/Racial Minorities and Immigrant Youth
• Cross-Cultural and Cross-National Comparative Research
• Quantitative-Qualitative Mixed Methods
• Participatory Action Research (PAR)
• Program Development, Implementation and Evaluation

Fluent: English, Spanish, Portuguese

Recent Publications

Trejos-Castillo, E., Mastergeorge, A., Cogo-Moreira, H., Zugman, A., de Araújo, C. M., Pan Neto, P. M., Bueno de Araujo, T., Picon, F., Paim Rohde, L. A., Jackowski, A. P. (2025; Accepted/In-press). Can Socioeconomic Status Moderate the Effect of a Conflictive Family Environment on Brain Structure and Externalizing-Internalizing Behaviour in Children and Adolescents? Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry, DOI: 10.47626/1516-4446-2025-4195

Ugwu, K., Trejos-Castillo, E. (2025, Online first). How Cyberstalking Victimization Shapes Academic and Mental Health Outcomes in College Students. Deviant Behavior,http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2025.2537443

Schovanec, L., Trejos-Castillo, E., Hansard, J., Lauderdale, M. (2025). Relevance and Resilience of U.S. Public Higher Education Institutions (HEIs): A Case Study of Texas Tech University. In Garrido, O.A., Jiménez G., L., Rivera M., C., & Altamirano, O.O. (Eds.) Public Universities in the Américas: Challenges and Perspectives for Development (pp. 159-187). Universidad de Los Lagos Editorial, Chile. DOI: 10.32735/978-956-6383-09-3-2025-159-187

Fernandes, M. N., Peres da Costa, R., & Trejos-Castillo, E. (2025). En Brasil y Estados Unidos: el minorismo como no lugar: Revista CES Psicología, 18(2), 130–141. https://doi.org/10.21615/cesp.7399 

Fernandes, M. N., & Trejos-Castillo, E. (2025). A escola na socioeducação: Estrutura e funcionamento. Jornal De Políticas Educacionais, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.5380/jpe.v19i1.96707

Habibi Asgarabad, Salehi Yegaei, P., Trejos-Castillo, E., Yaghoubi N., & Nora Wiium (2024). Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Developmental Assets Scales: A Study Protocol for Psychometric Properties. PLOS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0309909

Rose, J., Martin, M.J., Trejos-Castillo, E., & Mastergeorge, A. (2024). Longitudinal Pathways of Maltreated Young Children: Testing the Impact of Family Stress Processes and Adverse Childhood Experiences. Journal of Family Psychology.38(2), 309–319. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0001163

Asgarabad, M.H, Salehi Yegaei, P., Azami-Aghdash, S., Zaru, R., Hadi, N., Martin, N., Trejos-Castillo, E. (2024). A protocol study for a systematic review and meta-analysis of the psychometric properties of the five Cs model of positive youth development scales. In N. Wiium, D. Manrique-Millones, D. Miconi & D. Stefenel (Eds.), Addressing Social Justice: A Positive Youth Development Approach. (pp.21–46). Fagbokforlaget. https://doi.org/10.55669/oa311001

Zaru, R., Hadi, N., & Trejos-Castillo, E. Relationships and their impact on depression, self-esteem and looking forward to the future among multisystem youth. In Freitas, C., Pereira Andreatta E., & Pres da Costa, R. (Eds), Sistema Prisional e Socioeducativo. Federal University of Amazonas Press, Brazil.

Gomez-Baya, D., Muñoz-Parralo, M., Martin-Barrado, A.D., Trejos-Castillo, E., Gaspar de Matos, M., & Wiium, N. (2024). Socio-demographic differences in Positive Youth Development in Spanish undergraduates. Social Sciences. 13(1); https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13010011

Ataç. O., Yoruç Çotuk., M., & Trejos-Castillo, E. (2024). Positive Youth Development Approach: A Model Specific to Türkiye. Applied Research in Quality of Life. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-023-10270-0

Barrera-Valencia, M Calderon Delgado, L., Noriega, I.., Al-Khalil, K., Trejos-Castillo, E., & O´Boyle, M. (2023). Emotional processing in children with post-traumatic stress disorder: evidence from a study of functional neuroimaging (fMRI). In Erazo Santander, O.A. (Ed.), Achievements in Applied Cognitive Neuro Sciences II (pp.27-53), Santiago de Cali University Press, Colombia. DOI: 10.35985/9786287604421

Fernandes, M.A., & Trejos-Castillo, E. (2023). As Instituições E As Leis Para A Infância No Brasil Império: Circulação De Ideias Sobre O Menorismo. Educar Em Revista, V. 39, e87487, Curitiba, Brazil.DOI: http://Dx.Doi.Org/10.1590/1984-0411.87487

Galone Somer, D., Carneiro e Silva, S., Trejos-Castillo, E. (2023). As funções da Patrulha Escolar Comunitária do Estado Do Paraná: Reflexões á Luz Do Conceito de Estado Ampliado de Antonio Gramsci. In João Irineu de Resende Miranda and Dirceia Moreira (Ed.), Cadernos de Pesquisa Em Ciências Sociais Aplicadas. Produção dos Núcleos de Pesquisa. Paraná: Associação Brasileira de Editores Científicos.

Peres da Costa, R., Fernandes, M.N., & Trejos-Castillo. (2023). Repercussão Da Violência E Da Invisibilidade Social Na Privação De Liberdade De Adolescentes. In A.Volpato Craveiro & E. Palma Priotto (Eds), Violências na Atualidade: Olhares e Pespectivas, Ch. 1, pp. 23-49, Nova Praxis, Brazil. ISBN 978-65-80599-44-8.

Wiium, N., Chen, B.-B., Gomez-Baya, D., Perez-Diaz, P., Trejos-Castillo, E., Ferrer-Wreder, L. (2023). Youth, Health and Development in Diverse Cultures and Contexts. Frontiers Psychology, 14(doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1247821).

Salehi, P., Trejos-Castillo, E., Mastrotheodoros, S., Izanloo, B., & Habibi Asgarabad, M. (2023). Dimensions of Identity Development Scale: Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Gender Invariance, and External Validity of the Persian Version. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 1-16, doi.org/10.1111/jora.12860

Habibi Asgarabad, M., Salehi Yegaei, P., Trejos-Castillo, Mastrotheodoros, S., Izanloo, B. (2023). Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Gender Invariance of the Persian Version of Psychological Control Scale: Association with Internalizing and Externalizing Behavior Problems. Frontiers Psychology. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1128264

Hadi, N., Zaru, R., Trejos-Castillo, E., & Rosales, O. (2023). Children of the Incarcerated: The Role of Parenting, School, and Social Support in Caucasian and African American Youth Outcomes. Advances in Sociology, 39, Chp 5, ISBN: 979-8-88697-196-5. Nova Publishers.

Trejos-Castillo, E., Lopoo, E.& Dwivedi, A. (2023). Humanizing Justice: Supporting Positive Development in Criminalized Youth. In J. Travis & Western, B. (Eds), Parsimony and Other Radical Ideas about Justice. The New Press, N.Y. https://thenewpress.com/books/parsimony-other-radical-ideas-about-justice

Fischer, J.L., Engler Jordan, R., Trejos-Castillo, E., & Lyness, K.P.  (2023). Sibling Training Hypothesis: Alcohol Use Behaviors Among Three Adolescent Siblings,Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly,41(2), 200-221; DOI: 10.1080/07347324.2023.2167527

BOOKS

Trejos-Castillo, E. (Ed.), Trevino-Schafer, N. (Ed.). (2018). Handbook of Foster Youth. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Trejos-Castillo, E. (Ed.) (2013). Youth: Practices, Perspectives and Challenges. Nova Science Publishers, Hauppauge, NY.

Links

Cross-Cultural Studies (CCS) program-Director
https://www.depts.ttu.edu/gradschool/Programs/INDS/ccs.php

Positive Youth Development Lab
http://www.depts.ttu.edu/hs/hdfs/research/positive_youth_development/