Contributions to Science
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Mental Health Risk & Protective Factors in Acculturating Individuals
For the duration of Dr. Hovey's academic career, he has examined mental health risk and protective factors in various ethnic-acculturating groups, with a special emphasis on Latino/a mental health. Early studies of mental health in ethnic groups tended to focus on between group differences and on acculturation level as a risk factor. To more precisely measure cultural influences on mental health, Dr. Hovey shifted the focus to assessing within group factors (e.g., familism, post-migration hopefulness, adherence to traditional cultural values) and, rather than focus on acculturation, per se, he examined the influence of acculturative stress (i.e., the stress inherent in the acculturative process) on mental health. These studies were ground breaking as they were the first to document acculturative stress as a major risk factor for anxiety, depression, and suicide behavior. Moreover, they provided strong evidence for the influence of cultural risk factors on mental health. More recently, Dr. Hovey and colleagues have examined the interpersonal theory of suicide in Mexican adolescents and adults (thus being among the first researchers to assess the cultural applicability of this theory) and the influence of traditional cultural values on suicide behavior in Latina adolescents. |
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Mental Health of Farmworkers
Dr. Hovey generalized his earlier work on immigrant Mexican and Central American mental health by examining mental health risk and protective factors in Mexican migrant farmworkers. These studies were ground breaking because although previous research had examined migrant farmworkers' physical health, only one published study had examined their mental health. Dr. Hovey believed that migrant farmworkers were at severe risk for mental health difficulties given their exposure to acculturative stressors and the stressors inherent in living a migratory lifestyle. Indeed, his studies documented severe levels of anxiety, depression, and suicide behavior and found that these were significantly related to ineffective family and social support, hopelessness, low self-efficacy, lack of agreement with the decision to migrate, coping competence deficits, and acculturative stress. Through in-depth interviews conducted at farmworker camps, Dr. Hovey and his team also identified over 20 stressors that were particular to farmworkers' lives and the specific coping strategies employed in response to these stressors. |
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Interventions to Help Offset Mental Health Disparities
Dr. Hovey has also developed, provided, and evaluated culturally-appropriate evidence-based interventions for underserved groups. For example, Dr. Hovey and colleagues implemented cognitive behavioral support groups for Latina farmworkers in Colorado. These groups--which were conducted by a psychologist and promotora--led to increased self esteem and reductions in anxiety, depression, and hopelessness. In addition, Dr. Hovey and colleagues utilized promotoras to provide mental health education to Latino/a farmworkers in California, Maine, and North Carolina and found that recipients of the intervention reported decreased stress and depression and increased knowledge of psychological risk factors by the end of the agricultural season. Dr. Hovey and colleagues also utilized promotoras to effectively deliver theatrical presentations as a means of disseminating knowledge about HIV/AIDS risk factors to Latino/a farmworkers in Michigan. Finally, Dr. Hovey and colleagues are currently conducting an NIH-funded clinical trial on one session treatments for dental phobia in South Texas Latino/a youth. |
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Development of Culturally-Appropriate Psychological Measures
Dr. Hovey has developed, adapted, and translated a number of measures for culturally-appropriate use. For example, he utilized qualitative interview data to develop the Migrant Farmworker Stress Inventory, a quantitative scale that assesses the quality and severity of stress experienced by migrant farmworkers. In addition, because there are several measures to assess acculturative stress but no comparable measures to assess coping in acculturating individuals, Dr. Hovey and his team developed The Coping Inventory, which includes both traditional coping subscales (e.g., problem-solving, cognitive restructuring) and subscales that are pertinent to acculturating individuals (e.g., familism, ethnic identity/cultural values, fatalism). Dr. Hovey also worked with colleagues to develop and adapt a short-form version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) to help decrease participant burden in community-based and rural research studies, and Dr. Hovey and colleagues developed and validated a Spanish version of the Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire (INQ), which assesses constructs from the interpersonal theory of suicide. Finally, Dr. Hovey and colleagues developed the Empirically Supported Treatment Questionnaire, the Social Media Cyberbullying Inventory, and the Social Media Usage Questionnaire.
Dr. Hovey has developed, adapted, and translated a number of measures for culturally-appropriate use. For example, he utilized qualitative interview data to develop the Migrant Farmworker Stress Inventory, a quantitative scale that assesses the quality and severity of stress experienced by migrant farmworkers. In addition, because there are several measures to assess acculturative stress but no comparable measures to assess coping in acculturating individuals, Dr. Hovey and his team developed The Coping Inventory, which includes both traditional coping subscales (e.g., problem-solving, cognitive restructuring) and subscales that are pertinent to acculturating individuals (e.g., familism, ethnic identity/cultural values, fatalism). Dr. Hovey also worked with colleagues to develop and adapt a short-form version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) to help decrease participant burden in community-based and rural research studies, and Dr. Hovey and colleagues developed and validated a Spanish version of the Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire (INQ), which assesses constructs from the interpersonal theory of suicide. Finally, Dr. Hovey and colleagues developed the Empirically Supported Treatment Questionnaire, the Social Media Cyberbullying Inventory, and the Social Media Usage Questionnaire.
Dispositional Factors Associated with Attitudes toward the Use of Empirically Supported Treatments (ESTs)
A recent line of Dr. Hovey's research has examined dispositional factors associated with psychologists' use of empirically supported treatments (ESTs). Because previous research had often focused on external factors associated with the use of ESTs, Dr. Hovey and colleagues examined how need for cognition and intuitive decision-making influence clinicians' attitudes towards ESTs; clinicians high in intuitive decision-making and low in need for cognition reported less favorable attitudes. Moreover, Dr. Hovey and colleagues found that when persuasive messages about ESTs were tailored according to these attributes, clinicians responded favorably to the messages. In sum, these findings indicate that in training psychologists to work in an evidence-based treatment format, information should be presented in affective terms so that the information matches the ways in which clinicians prefer to process information about ESTs.
A recent line of Dr. Hovey's research has examined dispositional factors associated with psychologists' use of empirically supported treatments (ESTs). Because previous research had often focused on external factors associated with the use of ESTs, Dr. Hovey and colleagues examined how need for cognition and intuitive decision-making influence clinicians' attitudes towards ESTs; clinicians high in intuitive decision-making and low in need for cognition reported less favorable attitudes. Moreover, Dr. Hovey and colleagues found that when persuasive messages about ESTs were tailored according to these attributes, clinicians responded favorably to the messages. In sum, these findings indicate that in training psychologists to work in an evidence-based treatment format, information should be presented in affective terms so that the information matches the ways in which clinicians prefer to process information about ESTs.
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Current Projects
Dr. Hovey is currently involved in numerous ongoing research projects. These include projects on the longitudinal impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of essential workers and the general population; mediating factors in the relationship between obesity and suicide behavior; the association of aquaphobia and swimming skills across ethnic groups; dental anxiety interventions for Latino/a youth; dental care beliefs and dental anxiety susceptibility across cultural groups; cyberbullying and suicide behavior in college students; sleep, depression and suicide behavior; pain sensitivity in Latino/a individuals; clinical trial hesitancy in Latino/a individuals; genetic and environmental determinants of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in Latino/a individuals; mediating factors that explain the association between religiosity and mental health; influence of mental health stigma on mental health seeking attitudes in Latino men; coping influences on the mental health of agricultural workers; an evaluation of the psychometric properties of the Coping Inventory, an English and Spanish coping tool for acculturating individuals; and the role that body image plays in being susceptible to cyberbullying through social media usage. Grant Funding
Dr. Hovey has obtained grant funding from a variety of external and internal sources, including the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and various foundations. Dr. Hovey currently has funding from three NIH grants. For a detailed description of Dr. Hovey's current research projects, list of publications, and grant activities, please see his vita.
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For Dr. Hovey's Google Scholar Profile, please click here.