Dr. Carmen R. Valdez is an assistant professor in the department of Counseling Psychology, and has been an affiliate of the WCER since 2007. Her area of research is on the impact of family stress and sociocultural context on Latino children’s academic, social, and emotional functioning.

Valdez has been a co-investigator on an NICHD-funded project (Adam Gamoran, PI) examining the effects of social capital on Latino children’s socioemotional and academic functioning in Texas and Arizona. As part of this project, she has developed a special interest in the role of anti-immigration climate in Arizona on children’s life-course development. She recently submitted an R01 application for a mixed-methods project to continue to follow the children in the Arizona sample into adolescence, with a direct focus on anti-immigration climate.

Valdez’s second line of research entails developing community-based, family-focused interventions for Latino immigrant families experiencing stress. Prior to her position at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Valdez co-developed the Keeping Families Strong program for low-income families affected by maternal depression. At UW, she conducted a linguistic and cultural adaptation of KFS for Latino immigrant families, called “Fortalezas Familiares” (Family Strengths). She has piloted the intervention with families in the community, and plans to prepare an R01 application to conduct an effectiveness study of the intervention.

Peer-reviewed Publications

1. Valdez, C. R., Abegglen, J., & Hauser, C. (in press). Fortalezas Familiares Program: Building sociocultural and family strengths in Latina women with depression and their families. Family Process.
2. Valdez, C. R., Chavez, T., & Woulfe, J. (accepted). Emerging adults’ formative lived experience of family stress: The enduring influence of the family. Qualitative Health Research.
3. Valdez, C. R., Mills, M., Bohlig, A., & Kaplan, D. (in press). The role of parental language acculturation in the formation of social capital: Differential effects on high-risk children. Child Psychiatry and Human Development. PMID: 22903786.
4. Valdez, C. R., & Budge, S. L. (2012). Addressing youth depression in schools: Evaluation of an in-service training for school staff. International Journal of Educational Psychology, 1 (3), 228-256.
5. Valdez, C. R., Lambert, S., & Ialongo, N. (2011). Identifying patterns of early risk for mental health and academic problems in adolescence:  A longitudinal study of urban youth. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 42 (5), 521-538. PMID: 21538121
6. Valdez, C. R., Dvorscek, M., Budge, S., & Esmond, S. (2011). Provider perspectives about Latino patients: Determinants of care and implications for treatment. The Counseling Psychologist, 39 (4),497-526. PMCID: PMC3105899.
7. Valdez, C. R., Mills, C., Barrueco, S., Leis, J., & Riley, A. (2011). A pilot study of a family-focused intervention for children and families affected by maternal depression. Journal of Family Therapy, 33 (1), 3-19.
8. Riley, A., Valdez, C. R., Barrueco, S., & Mills, C. (2008). The development of a family-based program to promote resilience among children of depressed parents: A theoretical and conceptual approach. Journal of Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 11 (1-2), 12-29. PMID: 18360775
9. Brown, J., Riley, A., Leaf, P., & Valdez, C. R. (2008). Academic achievement and school functioning among non-incarcerated youth involved with the juvenile justice system. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 13 (1), 59-75.
10. Valdez, C. R., Carlson, C., & Zanger, D. (2005). Evidence-based parent training and family interventions for school behavior change. School Psychology Quarterly, 20 (4), p. 403-433.
11. Rude, S. S., Valdez, C. R., Odom, S., & Ibrahimi, A. (2003). Negativity of interpretation predicts depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 27 (4), p. 415-429.
12. Holliday, S., Navarrete, G., Hermosillo, D., Valdez, C., Saklad, A., Escalante, A., & Brey, R. (2003). Validating a computer-administered neuropsychological test battery for mixed ethnic Lupus patients. Lupus, 12 (9), p. 697-703.
13. Brey, R. L., Holliday, S. L., Saklad, A. R., Navarrete, M. G., Hermosillo-Romo, D., Stallworth, C. L., Valdez, C. R., Escalante, A., Del Rincon, I., Gronseth, G., Rhine, C. B., Padilla, P., McGlasson, D. (2002). Neuropsychiatric syndromes in Lupus: Prevalence using standardized definitions. Neurology, 58 (8), p. 1214-1220.
14. Christenson, S., Carlson, C., & Valdez, C. R. (2002). Evidence-based interventions: Opportunities, challenges, and cautions. In T. Kratochwill (Ed.), Evidence-based interventions in school psychology: The state of the art and future directions (Special issue).  School Psychology Quarterly, 17 (4), p. 466-474.

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