Research Interests
- Health Equity
- Parenting
- Family Dynamics
- Psychometrics and Measurement
- Developmental Psychopathology
Dr. Rodriguez will be considering graduate students as a primary research advisor for the Fall 2024.
Broadly, my research is focused on understanding the mechanisms that contribute to, maintain and/or exacerbate health disparities among minoritized youth and families. My research program aims to achieve three major aims, with the overarching goal of improving health outcomes for underserved populations globally (e.g., Global South countries, racially and ethnically minoritized people, immigrant families, Spanish-speaking caregivers and youth, LGBTQIA+ families, families disproportionately affected by chronic illness). Firstly, I strive to gain a better understanding of the causal and perpetuating factors contributing to health disparities among youth and their parents in understudied, underserved, and underprivileged groups. Secondly, I am committed to improving assessment methods used to evaluate health outcomes and predictors (e.g., parenting) in parents and youth, ensuring their validity across different cultural (cross-cultural and multicultural), research, and clinical contexts. Through the development of culturally sensitive and contextually appropriate assessment tools, I aim to improve the accuracy of how we assess various factors (e.g., parenting) in research and interventions. Lastly, I am interested in the translation of evidence-based health promotion strategies and interventions into underserved settings to promote health equity using community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles, and informed by implementation science frameworks (e.g., MOST, CFIR).
Education
2023: PhD, Clinical Psychology, University of Georgia
2020: MS, Psychology, University of Georgia
2015: MSEd, Research, Measurement and Evaluation, University of Miami
2012: BA, Psychology, Florida International University
Grants
Programs for Inclusion and Diversity Among Individuals Engaged in Health-Related Research (PRIDE), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Project Title: Mechanisms of Discrimination-Related Stress on Child Sleep via Modifiable Parental Processes
Role: PI
Mechanism: Small Research Project Grant (2R25HL105444-15)
Status: Submitted
Total Funding Amount Requested: $15,000
National Institute of Mental Health Rodriguez (PI) 2024-2029
Optimizing the Assessment of Parenting: A Multi-Method and Multi-Informant Approach
Role: Principal Investigator
Mechanism: DP5 Early Independence Award (DP5-OD036508)
Status: Funded; funded on first submission (Impact score: 26)
Funding Amount: $1,250,000 (direct), 677,155 (indirect)
National Institute of Mental Health Rodriguez (PI) 2021-2023
Revision and Validation of the Multidimensional Assessment of Parenting Scale (MAPS) in a Racially and Ethnically Diverse National Sample
Mechanism: R36 (R36 MH127838)
Role: Principal Investigator
Status: Completed; funded on first submission (Impact score 21)
Funding Amount: $86,017
Recent Publications
Alfonso, D., Basurto, K., Guilfoyle, J., VanLandingham, H. B., Gonzalez, C., Ovsiew, G. P., Rodriguez, V. J., Resch, Z. J., Ulrich, D. M., & Soble, J. R. (2024). The Effect of Adverse Childhood Experiences on ADHD Symptom Reporting, Psychological Symptoms, and Cognitive Performance Among Adult Neuropsychological Referrals. Journal of Attention Disorders, 28(1), 43-50. https://doi.org/10.1177/10870547231196326
Finley, J.-C. A., Rodriguez, V. J., Cerny, B. M., Chang, F., Brooks, J. M., Ovsiew, G. P., Ulrich, D. M., Resch, Z. J., & Soble, J. R. (2024). Comparing embedded performance validity indicators within the WAIS-IV Letter-Number sequencing subtest to Reliable Digit Span among adults referred for evaluation of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Clinical Neuropsychologist, 38(7), 1647-1666. https://doi.org/10.1080/13854046.2024.2315738
Liu, Q., Qiu, M., Nestor, B. A., Rodriguez, V. J., & Cole, D. A. (Accepted/In press). Mixture model applications in depression phenotyping: practices, challenges, and recommendations. Current Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-024-06309-6
Mweemba, O., Rodriguez, V. J., Jones, D. L., Desgraves, J. F., Msimuko, R., Mofya, R., Kalebaila, S. K., Musonda-Chisangano, M. M., Mulavu, M., Zulu, R., Dunleavy, V. O., Bowa, K., & Weiss, S. M. (2024). Factors influencing neonatal male circumcision uptake among expecting couples in Zambia: formative findings. AIDS Care - Psychological and Socio-Medical Aspects of AIDS/HIV, 36(4), 528-535. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540121.2023.2223900
Rodriguez, V. J., Finley, J. C. A., Liu, Q., Alfonso, D., Basurto, K. S., Oh, A., Nili, A., Paltell, K. C., Hoots, J. K., Ovsiew, G. P., Resch, Z. J., Ulrich, D. M., & Soble, J. R. (Accepted/In press). Empirically derived symptom profiles in adults with attention-Deficit/hyperactivity disorder: An unsupervised machine learning approach. Applied neuropsychology. Adult. https://doi.org/10.1080/23279095.2024.2343022
