Elizabeth Trejos-Castillo, Ph.D.

Research Focus

My research focus is interdisciplinary, rooted in Clinical/Developmental Psychology, Human Development, Criminology, Social Work, and Cross-Cultural Studies. My scholarship focuses on positive youth development, externalizing/internalizing behaviors, toxic-stress, trauma and resilience in minority and underserved youth using a cross-cultural/cross-national comparative lens. I use a mixed-method approach (e.g., surveys, secondary data, ethnography, case studies, interviews, focus groups) and Participatory Action Research (PAR) that seeks to build evidence-based practice for the development, extension, and improvement of prevention and intervention efforts. 

My research has been funded by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services; U.S. Department of State-Fulbright; U.S. Department of Justice; U.S. Department of Education; U.S. Administration on Children, Youth, & Families; Texas Bar Foundation; and USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture among other national and international mechanisms (e.g., Colombia, Brazil, Sweden). I have edited two books: Handbook of Foster Youth (2018-Routledge) and Youth: Practices, Perspectives and Challenges (2013-Nova Science), and published over 70 scholarly articles and book chapters in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

I currently serve as an International Adjunct Professor in the Department of Social Work, College of Applied Social Sciences at State University of Ponta Grossa, Paraná-Brazil (2018-present) and in the School of Medicine, Biostatistics & Epidemiology (2014-present) at CES University, Colombia (South America). Over the past 30 years, I have worked closely with numerous national and international collaborators (e.g., Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Greece, Honduras, India, Norway, Spain, Sweden) as well as several local community and statewide partners (e.g., Lubbock ISD, office of dispute resolution for Lubbock county, court appointed special advocates-CASA, Lubbock Police Department, Bexar county juvenile probation department) to support the well-being and positive development of minority and vulnerable youth.

All my graduate and undergraduate students gain "hands on" experience by participating in national and international research activities, community outreach programs, volunteering activities, and positive development programs for youth and their families. My research, teaching, and service have been shaped by diverse life experiences and by the people who have made those experiences possible. I have lived in different countries and cultures and thus, I seek to discover what lies beneath our multidimensional lives, to improve and advance the lives of underserved youth, and to serve the community and society at large.

Areas of Expertise

• 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

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. 

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, https://doi.org/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,(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

Darvishi, M., Habibi Asgarabad, M., Elhami Athar, M., Atef Vahid, M.K., & Trejos-Castillo, E. (2022). An explanation of adolescents' delinquent behaviors based on Jessor's Problem Behavior Theory (PBT) in Iran: The role of individual vulnerability, opportunity risk availability, and perceived support. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.744794

Ramos Jaraba, S.M., Berbesí Fernández, D.Y., & Trejos-Castillo, E. (2022). Consumo de basuco en mujeres transgénero, de tres ciudades de Colombia (Basuco consumption in transgender women in three cities in Colombia-South America). Revista Addiciones (Spain). DOI: 10.20882/adicciones.1617

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/