Projects

Our research focuses on risk and resilience factors that predict youths’ physical and mental health as a result of exposure to trauma/disaster. We are working on the development of a workbook, Before the Disaster.  We will then use this manual to develop a  mobile app to help parents and children cope with pre-disaster warnings and evacuation stressors.

This manual builds on earlier work that is designed to help youth and families cope after disasters.  (See the Manual section of our webpage for examples, and selected references below).

Our lab continues to be busy with talks and publications in this area. For example, I was a keynote speaker on this topic for the 8^thInternational Congress of Clinical and Health Psychology in Children and Adolescents (Elche, Spain, November 2022), where I received a 2022 Lifetime Career Award for my “continued dedication and development of child and adolescent clinical psychology.”

Selected References

La Greca, A.M., Lai, B., Llabre, M.M., Silverman, W.K., Vernberg, E.M., & Prinstein, M.J. (2013).
Children’s postdisaster trajectories of posttraumatic stress symptoms: Predicting chronic distress. Child and Youth Care Forum, 42, 351-359.

La Greca, A.M., Lai, B., Joorman, J., Auslander, B., & Short. M. (2013). Children's risk and resilience following a natural disaster: Genetic vulnerability, posttraumatic stress, and depression. Journal of Affective Disorders, 151, 860-867.

La Greca, A.M., Danzi, B.A., & Chan, S.F. (2017). DSM-5 and ICD-11 as competing models of PTSD in preadolescent children exposed to a natural disaster: Assessing validity and co-occurring symptomatology. European Journal of Psychotraumatology,8(1), 1310591.

La Greca, A.M., Brodar K.E., Danzi, B.A., Tarlow, N., Silva, K., & Comer, J.S. (2019). Before the storm: Stressors associated with the Hurricane Irma evacuation process for families. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, 13, 63-73.

Brodar, K. E., La Greca, A. M.., Tarlow, N., & Comer, J. (2020). “My kids are my priority:” Mothers’ decisions to evacuate for Hurricane Irma and evacuation intentions for future hurricanes. Journal of Family Issues, 41, 2251-2274. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X20933931

Lai, B.S., La Greca, A.M., Brincks, A., Colgan, C.A., D’Amico, M.P., & Kelley, M.L. (2021).
Trajectories of posttraumatic stress in youths after disasters: An integrative data analysis study.
JAMA Network Open, 4(2), e2036682.  doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.36682

La Greca, A.M., Tarlow, N., Brodar, K.E., Danzi, B.A., & Comer, J.S. (2022). The stress  before the storm: Psychological correlates of hurricane-related evacuation stressors on mothers and children. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. 14(S1), S13–S22. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0001052

La Greca, A.M., Brodar, K.E., Tarlow*, N., & Burdette, E.T. (2022). Evacuation- and hurricane-related experiences, emotional distress, and their associations with mothers’ health risk behaviors.  Health Psychology, 41(7), 443-454.

La Greca, A.M., Burdette, E.T., & Brodar, K.E. (2023). Climate change and extreme weather disasters: Is evacuation stress associated with child health problems? Frontiers in Pediatric Psychology, 14.  https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1196419

We continue to work on a multi-wave study of adolescents’ adjustment over the first year of high school (FAST2020) that examines risk and resilience factors that hinder or promote health and adjustment over this developmental transition. We also are exploring the use of interpersonal models and preventive interventions to help adolescents cope with peer victimization, social anxiety, and depressed feelings. As part of this area, we continue to investigate social anxiety and depression in teens.

Selected References

La Greca, A. M., & Lopez, N. (1998). Social anxiety among adolescents: Linkages with peer relations and friendships. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 26, 83-94.

La Greca, A.M., Ingles, C.J., Lai, B.S., & Marzo, J. C. (2015). Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents: Factorial invariance across gender and age in Hispanic-American adolescents. Assessment, 22, 224-232. DOI: 10.1177/1073191114540749

Landoll, R. L., La Greca, A.M., Lai, B.S., Chan, S., & Herge, W. (2015). Cyber victimization by peers: Prospective associations with adolescent social anxiety and depressive symptoms. Journal of Adolescence, 42, 77-86.  

La Greca, A.M., Ehrenreich-May, J., Mufson, L., & Chan, S. (2016). Preventing adolescent social anxiety and depression and reducing peer victimization: Intervention development and open trial. Child and Youth Care Forum, 45, 905-926.  

Delgado, B., Ingles, C.J., Garcia-Fernandez, J.M., Martinez-Monteagudo, Ingles, C.J., Marzo, J.C., La Greca, A.M., & Hugon, M. (2019). Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A) and School Anxiety Inventory (SAI): Factor structure, reliability, and convergent validity in French adolescents. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 50, 13-26.

Hysing, M., Askeland, K.G., La Greca, A.M., Solberg, M., Breivik, K., & Sivertsen, B. (2019). Bullyinginvolvement in adolescence: Implications for sleep, mental health, and academic outcomes. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. doi: 0.1177/0886260519853409.

Brodar, K. E., La Greca, A. M, & Hysing, M. & Llabre, M. (2020). Stressed and sleepy: The relationship between stress and sleep in adolescents transitioning to high school. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 45, 1027-1038.

Parhiala, P., Ranta, K., Gergov, V., Kontunen, J., Law, R., La Greca, A.M., Torppa, M., & Marttunen, M.  (2020).  Interpersonal counseling in the treatment of adolescent depression:  A randomized controlled effectiveness and feasibility study in school health and welfare services.  School Mental Health, 12 (2), 265-283.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-019-09346-w

Tarlow, N., & La Greca, A.M. (2021).  The role of empathy and social anxiety in Latinx adolescents’ indirect peer aggression during the transition to high school.  Aggressive Behavior, 47, 17-27. doi: 10.1002/ab.21926.

Torregrosa Diez, M S.T., Gomez-Nunnez, M. I., Sanmartin Lopez, R., Garcia-Fernandez, J.M., La Greca, A.M., Zhou, X.,  & Ingles, C. J. (2022). Measurement invariance and latent mean differences across American, Spanish and ChineseAdolescents using the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A). Psicothema, 34, 126-133. doi: 10.7334/psicothema2021.42.

La Greca, A.M., & Burdette, E.T. (2022).  Impact of school transition stressors on adolescents’ symptoms of social anxiety and depression: Repetitive negative thinking as a potential moderator. European Journal of Education and Psychology, 15, 23-42.

Urbán, D.J.A., La Greca, A.M., García-Fernández, J.M., & Ingles, C.J. (2023). A bibliometric analysis of adolescent social anxiety and psychoeducational variables in the Web of Science 2002-2021.  Journal of General Psychology. DOI: 10.1080/00221309.2022.2161982

Finally, our lab has published several papers on psychological screening and consultation in pediatric diabetes care.  Some representative publications appear below.

Brodar, K. E., Leite, R.O., Marchetti, D., Jaramillo, M., Davis, E., Sanchez, J., Saab, P., Delamater, A.M., & La Greca, A. M. (2022). Psychological screening and consultation in a pediatric diabetes clinic: Medical providers’ perspectives. Clinical Practice in Pediatric Psychology, 10(2), 164–79.  https://doi.org/10.1037/cpp0000430

Brodar, K. E., Leite, R.O., Jaramillo, M., Marchetti, D., Davis, E., Sanchez, J., Delamater, A., Saab, P., & La Greca, A. M. (2022). Psychosocial screening in a pediatric diabetes clinic: Adolescents’ and mothers’ perspectives.  Pediatric Diabetes, 23(7),1-12.https://doi.org/10.1111/pedi.13385

Brodar, K. E., Leite, R., Marchetti, D., Jaramillo, M., Davis, E., Sanchez, J., Delamater, A., Saab, P., & La Greca, A. M. (2023, in press). “How are you, the person, not how are you, the pancreas”: Adolescent and parent perspectives on the role of mental health within comprehensive diabetes care. 

Leite, R., Brodar, K., Saab, P., Marchetti, D., Jaramillo, M., Francis, A.,  Sanchez, J., Davis, E., Delamater, A. & La Greca, A.M.  (2023, submitted). Diabetes care and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: Perspectives of adolescents with diabetes, parents, and providers. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings.