Elizabeth Brondolo

Professor

St. John's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Ph.D.

The Social Stress and Health Research Unit
Since 1991 my students and I have been conducting research on the psychophysiology of interpersonal conflict. We started with studies of workplace conflict, collaborating with New York City Traffic Enforcement Agents, investigating their interactions with motorists who were angry about getting parking tickets. We also conducted stress and conflict management programs with the Traffic Agents. Our later workplace studies involved working with New York City elementary school teachers, examining their interactions with students. In each of these studies, the participants wore ambulatory blood pressure monitors, and we examined changes in their blood pressure and heart rate as they interacted with others. These studies were funded by several grants from NIH, as well as the American Heart Association and the Communication Workers of America.

Since 2000, we have been actively researching racism or ethnic discrimination, specifically examining interpersonal racism (i.e., racism that is directly perceived and occurs in an interpersonal context). We have developed a measure of perceived racism (the Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire – Community Version) and conducted extensive studies of its reliability and validity in Black, Latino(a), and Asian samples. We have conducted 12 studies on almost 3,000 participants drawn from 12 different community sites to further our understanding of biopsychosocial mechanisms through which racism affects risk for cardiovascular disease. These studies have been supported by funding from NHLBI and St. John’s University. Selected publications emerging from this research are listed below.

As part of the effort to develop a community-based program of research, we have developed collaborative relationships with both Jamaica Hospital Medical Center and Flushing Hospital Medical Center. My students and I are working with Family Medicine residents at JHMC to support their clinical research efforts. The St. John’s University graduate students share their knowledge of research methods and behavioral science with the family medicine residents. Many of the residents’ projects include investigations of methods to improve the quality of care to ethnically and sociodemographically diverse communities. Two recent projects have examined strategies for improving the detection of hypertension and improving blood pressure control, a critical health problem for low income communities.

In addition, I am an active clinician, specializing in the treatment of bipolar disorder, PTSD and obsessive compulsive disorder. My colleague Xavier Amador and I recently published a book for patients with bipolar spectrum disorders entitled “Break the Bipolar Cycle: A Day-to-Day Guide to Living with Bipolar Disorder” (McGraw-Hill, New York). More information about the book is available at www.breakthebipolarcycle.com.

Selected papers
Gee, G., Walseman, K., & Brondolo, E., (2012). A lifecourse perspective on racism and health inequities.American Journal of Public Health, 102(5), 967-974.

Brondolo, E., Wellington, R. Brondolo, E.M., Brondolo, T., Delahanty, D., (2012). Work-related predictors of psychological distress among medical examiner and coroner personnel, Academic Forensic Pathology.

Kwok, J., Atencio, J., Ullah, J., Crupi, R., Chen, D., Roth, A., Chaplin, W., & Brondolo, E., (2011). The Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire – Community Version: Validation in a multi-ethnic Asian sample. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 17(3), 271–282.

Brondolo, E., Libretti, M., Rivera, L. & Walsemann, K. (in press). Racism and social capital: The implications for social and physical well-being. Journal of Social Issues.

Brondolo, E., Lackey, S., & Love, E., (2011). Race, Racism & Health: Evaluating racial disparities in hypertension to understand the links between racism and health status. In A. Baum, T. A., Revenson, & J.E. Singer (Eds). Handbook of Health Psychology, 2nd edition (pp. 569 – 594). New York: Psychology Press. In T.A. Revenson and A. Baum. Handbook of Health Psychology.

Sloan, R. P., Shapiro, P. A., DeMeersman, R. E., Bagiella, E., Brondolo, E. N., McKinley, P. S.,

Shcheslavskaya1, O., McKay, C., Schwartz, J. E., and Myers, M. M, (2011). The impact of aerobic training on cardiovascular reactivity to and recovery from challenge.Psychosomatic Medicine.73, 134-141.

Brondolo, E., Hausmann, L. R. M., Jhalani, J., Pencille, M., Kumar, A., Kwok, J., Ullah, J., and

Roth, A., (2011). Perceived racism and self-reported health in a diverse sample. Annals of Behavioral Medicine. DOI 10.1007/s12160-011-9265-1

Brondolo, E., Love, E. E., Pencille, M., Schoenthaler, A., and Ogedegbe, G., (2011). Racism and hypertension: A review of the empirical evidence and implications for clinical practice. American Journal of Hypertension, advance online publication 17 February 2011; doi:10.1038/ajh.2011.9

Brondolo, E., Brady, N., Libby, D., and Pencille, M., (2010). Racism as a psychosocial stressor. In

RJ Contrada and A Baum (Eds.), Handbook of Stress Science: Biology, Psychology, and Health. Springer: New York. pp 167-184.

Schoenthaler, A., Schwartz, J.E., Cassells, A., Tobin, J.N., and Brondolo, E., (July, 8, 2010) Daily interpersonal conflict predicts masked hypertension in an urban sample. American Journal of Hypertension, doi:10.1038/ajh.2010.141.

Brondolo, E., Brady, N., Beatty, DL., Pencille, M., & Contrada, R. (2009). Coping with racism: A selective review and theoretical and methodological critique. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 32, 64-88.

Selected Research Publications
(names in bold are or were students at St. John’s University)

Ruiz, J. & Brondolo, E. (2016). Introduction to the Special Issue Disparities in Cardiovascular Health: Examining the Contributions of Social and Behavioral Factors. Health Psychology, 35 (4), 309–312

Moody, D. L. B., Waldstein, S. R., Tobin, J., Cassels, A., Schwartz, J. C., & Brondolo, E. (2016). Lifetime racism among older Black and Latino(a) adults and ambulatory diastolic blood pressure: The moderating effects of age. Health Psychology, 35(4), 333–342.

Coleman, J. A., Delahanty, D. L., Schwartz, J., Murani, K., & Brondolo, E. (in press). The moderating impact of interacting with distressed families of decedents on direct trauma exposure in medical examiner personnel. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, & Policy.

Coleman, J.A., Brondolo, E. & Delahanty, D.L. (in press). Posttraumatic distress in high-risk occupational groups. In Cooper, C. & Antoniou, A.S. (Eds.), Coping, personality and the workplace: Responding to psychological crisis and critical events. UK: Gower Publishing.

Mencia-Ripley, A., Brondolo, E., & Schwartz, A., (2016). Gender schemas, interpersonal interactions, and ambulatory blood pressure: Examining Person X Situation interaction effects on CVR. InterAmerican Journal of Psychology.

Brondolo, E., Ng, W., Jean-Pierre, K., & Lane, R. (2016). Racism and depression: Examining the link between racism and depression from a social-cognitive perspective. In A. Alvarez, C. Liang & H. Neville (Eds.), The Costs of Racism for People of Color: Contextualizing Experiences of discrimination. Washington, DC: APA Press.

Brondolo, E., Rahim, R., Grimaldi, S., Ashraf, A., Bui, N., & Schwartz, J. (2015). Place of birth effects on self-reported discrimination: Variations by type of discrimination. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 49, 212-222.

Brondolo, E. (2015). Racial and ethnic disparities in health: Examining the contexts that shape resilience and risk. Psychosomatic Medicine, 77(1), 2-5. doi:10.1097/PSY.0000000000000149.

Brondolo, E., Monge, A., Agosta, J., Tobin, J. N., Cassells, A., Stanton, C., & Schwartz, J. (2015). Perceived ethnic discrimination, negative mood, and cigarette smoking: examining moderation and mediation of real-time associations among Black and Latino urban adults. Journal of Behavioral Medicine.

Arellano-Morales, L., Roesch, S. C., Gallo, L. C., Emory, K. T., Molina, K. M., Gonzalez, P., … Brondolo, E. (2015). Prevalence and correlates of perceived ethnic discrimination in the Hispanic community health study/study of Latinos sociocultural ancillary study. Journal of Latina/o Psychology, 3(3), 160-176.

Brondolo, E., Rieppi, R., Kelly, K. (2003). Perceived racism and blood pressure: A review of the literature and proposals for future research. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 25(1), 55-65.

Brondolo, E., Eichler, B. F., & Taravella, J. R. (2003). A tailored anger management program is associated with reduced rates of civilian complaints against traffic agents. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology. 18(2) 1-11.

Brondolo, E., Rieppi, R., Erickson, S. A., Bagiella, E., Shapiro, P. A., Sloan, R. P., & McKinley, P. S. (2005). Hostility, negative interpersonal interactions, and ambulatory blood pressure. Psychosomatic Medicine. 65:1003-1011.

Brondolo, E., Kelly, K. P., Coakley, V., Gordon, T., Thompson, S., Levy, E., Cassells, A., & Tobin, J. N. (2005). The Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire: Development and preliminary validation of a community version. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 35(2) 335-365.

Brondolo, E.,Thompson, S., Brady, N., Appel., R., Cassells, A., Tobin, J., and Sweeney, M., (2005) The relationship of racism to appraisals and coping in a community sample,Ethnicity and Disease, 15, S5, 14-19 .

Broudy, R., Brondolo, E., Coakley, V., Brady, N., Cassels, A., Tobin, J., and Sweeney, M., (2007). Perceived ethnic discrimination in relation to daily moods and negative social interactions. Journal of Behavioral Medicine., 30(1), 31-43. .

Brondolo, E., Libby, D. J., Denton, E., Thompson, S., Schwartz, J., Sweeney, M. et al. (2008). Racism and ambulatory blood pressure in a community sample. Psychosomatic Medicine, 70, 49-56..

Brondolo, E., Brady, N., Thompson, S., Contrada, R. J., Cassells, A., Tobin, J., & Sweeney, M. (2008). Perceived racism and negative affect: Analyses of trait and state measures of affect in a community sample. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 27(2),150-173.

Selected Clinical Publications
(names in bold are or were students at St. John’s University)

Brondolo, E., Wellington, R., Brady, N., and Libby, D., and Brondolo, T., (2008) Post-traumatic stress disorder: Mechanisms and implications for prevention in forensic workers.Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, 15, 78-88.

Brondolo, E., and Amador, X.F. (2008). Break the bipolar cycle: A day-to-day guide to living with bipolar disorder. McGraw-Hill: New York.

For more information on Racism and Health Disparities, see the Division 38 web pages in the American Psychological Association website at www.health-psych.org/APADivision38Racism.cfm