Faculty Profile
Cleopatra Caldwell, PhD
- Professor Emerita, Health Behavior and Health Equity
Dr. Cleopatra Howard Caldwell is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Equity. As a social psychologist with expertise in psychosocial and environmental factors influencing the health and well-being of Black populations, her research includes both intervention and basic research involving survey research techniques with adults, adolescents and families. She also has expertise in conducting community-based participatory research (CBPR), developing academic-community partnerships to design and evaluate health interventions for Black youth and their family. Specific examples include the NICHD/NIH funded Parenting and Men's Health Study, the CDC funded Fathers and Sons Evaluation Project, and the Ruth Mott Foundation funded Fathers and Sons Physical Activity and Nutrition Program. She has published in a number of areas including the influence of social relationships and social identities on the health and well-being of Black adolescents, the role of paternal support, racial discrimination, and racial identity attitudes as risk or protective factors for adolescent risky behaviors and fatherhood as a context for understanding men's health. Further, Dr. Caldwell has extensive experience conducting research to understand health risk behaviors and mental health of ethnically diverse adolescents, including African American and Caribbean Black youth.
- PhD, Social Psychology, University of Michigan, 1986
- AM, Psychology, University of Michigan, 1983
- MA, Human Development, Wayne State University, 1975
- BS, Psychology, North Carolina A and T State University, 1973
Intergenerational family influences on the psychological well-being of teenage parents.
Improving adolescent health through strengthening family relationships.
Family relationships, discrimination, and the mental health of African American and Caribbean Black adolescents.
Research methods in African American communities.
Misra, D. P., Giurgescu, C., Caldwell, C. H., Song, P. X., Hu, M., Adaji, R., & Vaughan,
S. (In
press). Fathers matter: Black fathers participating in pregnancy research. The American
Journal of
Maternal Child Nursing.
Thomas, A., Assari, S., Odukoya, E., & Caldwell, C.H. (2022). Efficacy to avoid violence
and
parenting: A moderated mediation of violence exposure for African American urban-dwelling
boys.
Development and Psychopathology, 1-12.
Lachance, L., Coombe, C. M., Brush, B. L., Lee, S. D., Jensen, M., Taffe, B., Bhardwaj,
P.,
Muhammad, M., Wilson-Powers, E., Roe, Z., Caldwell, C. H., & Israel, B. A. (2022).
Understanding the benefit-cost relationship in long-standing community-based participatory
research
(CBPR) partnerships: Findings from the measurement approached to partnership success
(MAPS) study.
The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 58, 513-536.
Caldwell, C.H., Thomas, D., Hoelscher, H., Williams, H., Mason II, Z., Valerio-Shewmaker,
M.A., &
Panapasa, S.V. (2021). Tailoring recruitment and outreach strategies for underrepresented
students
in public health pipeline programs. Pedagogy in Health Promotion, 7(1 supplement)
36S-43S.
Coleman, A., Lemmons, B.P., Rollins, L., O’Neill, J.M., Caldwell, C.H., & Ferrilis,
A.M. (2021).
Predictors of father-son closeness among African American and Caribbean Black adolescents.
Phylon,
58(1 & 2), 2-20.
Assari, S., Boyce, S., Bazarga, M., & Caldwell, C.H. (2021). Race, family conflict
and suicidal
thoughts and behaviors among 9-10 year old American children. International Journal
of
Environmental Research and Public Health, 18, 10.
King, C. A., Gipson, P. Y., Arango, A., Lernihan, D., Clark, M., Ewell Foster, C.,
Caldwell, C. H.,
Ghaziuddin, N., & Stone, D. (2021). Let’s connect community mentorship program adolescents
with
peer social problems: A randomized intervention trial. American Journal of Community
Psychology,
68, 310-322.
Thomas, A., Lee, J.R.S., Muhammed, M., & Caldwell, C. H. (2021). “Why don’t you reach
out to dad?”:
Involving fathers in therapy. Research on Social Work Practice, 1-12.
Lambert, S. F., Rose, T., Farzana, T., & Caldwell, C. H. (2021). Ethnic-racial socialization,
perceived neighborhood quality, and psychosocial adjustment among African American
and Caribbean
Black adolescents. Journal of Research on Adolescents, 31, 120-138,
Thomas, A., Assari, S., Dusperreguy, M. I., De Loney, E. H., & Caldwell, C. H. (2021).
Age-
specific mechanisms of the effects of family-based interventions with African American
nonresident
fathers and sons. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 29, 3509-3520.
Assari, S., Boyce, S., Bazargan, M., & Caldwell, C. H. (2021). Race, family conflict
and suicidal
thoughts and behaviors among 9-10 year old American children. International Journal
of
Environmental Research and Public Health, 18, 1-13.
Reid K. S., Hastings, J. F. & Caldwell, C. H. (2021). Mediating role of self-esteem:
Black
Caribbean and African American adolescents’ initiation of sex. Journal of Community
Psychology.
1-12. DOI: 10.1002/jcop22518.
Lee, D., Hope, M. O., Heinze, J., Cunningham, M., Caldwell, C. H. & Zimmerman, M.
A. (2020).
Psychological pathway from racial discrimination to the physical consequences of alcohol
consumption: Religious coping as a protective factor. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance
Abuse, 19,
453-475.
Tsuchiya, K., Lee, D. B., Qian, Y., Caldwell, C. H., & Mincy, R. B. (2020). Risk and
protective
factors during childhood on youth violence among African American males: The role
of mothers and
nonresident fathers. Journal of Community Psychology, 48, 1543-1563.
Tsuchiya, K., Leung, C W., Jones, A. A., & Caldwell, C. H., (2020). Multiple financial
stressors
and serious psychological distress among adults in the USA. International Journal
of Public Health,
65, 335-344.
Brown, T. N., Culver, J., Wilkins, K., Gorman, Q., Bento, A., Alvis, A., Lesane-Brown,
C. L., &
Caldwell, C. H. (2020). A descriptive study using the comprehensive race socialization
inventory:
Findings from the National Survey of American Life-Adolescent Supplement.
Journal of Black Studies, 51, 147-167.
Evans, L. A., Geronimus, A. T. & Caldwell, C. H. (2020). Systematically shortchanged,
yet carrying
on: Black adolescent girls in the Detroit metropolitan school reform environment.
DuBois Review:
Social Science Research on Race, 16, 357-383.
Schmidt, C. J., Stoddard, S. A., Heinze, J. E., Caldwell, C. H., & Zimmerman, M. A.
(2020).
Examining contextual and relational factors influencing perceptions of societal and
interpersonal
mattering among rural youth. Journal of Community Psychology, 48, 2013-
2032.
Email: cleoc@umich.edu
For media inquiries: sph.media@umich.edu
Areas of Expertise: Health Equity, Public Health Practice, Racism