Lyric N. Russo, PhD

Lyric N. Russo, PhD (she/her) is an interdisciplinary researcher and the Enochs Endowed Postdoctoral Fellow in Social Work. Broadly, her research examines interpersonal violence, focusing on how childhood trauma and intergenerational influences shape risk, resilience, and revictimization across the lifespan, as well as how system-level factors influence survivors’ responses to adversity. Drawing from psychology, criminology, and public health frameworks, her work integrates interpersonal mechanisms and structural determinants to better understand how trauma unfolds within families and intimate partnerships, and how survivors engage with legal, health, and social service systems.

A central aim of her scholarship is to generate actionable and prevention-oriented science that strengthens trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and developmentally appropriate systems of care. Her work has been supported by fellowships and institutional awards, and disseminated through interdisciplinary journals, community reports, and collaborative projects with County service providers and nonprofit agencies.

Degrees

PhD, Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine
MA, Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine
BA, Psychology, California State University, Long Beach

Research Interests

Interpersonal violence and revictimization; Intergenerational transmission of trauma; Risk and protective processes across development; Trauma-informed and community-engaged prevention; Community-based participatory research (CBPR)

Selected Publications

Borelli, J. L., Russo, L. N., Kazmierski, K., Zhou, E., Rowley, C., & Garcia, J. (in press). Navigating shared stress: Dyadic links between COVID-19 stressors and mental health in low-income Latine youth and mothers. Journal of Latinx Psychology.

Lee, K. A., Mezzapelle, J. L., Russo, L. N., Douglas, E. M., & Hines, D. A. (in press). The impact of intimate partner violence (IPV) on victims’ mental, physical, and economic wellbeing: A comprehensive literature review, 2012-2022. Partner Abuse.

Russo, L. N., & Borelli, J. L. (2023). College women’s perceptions of aggression and risk of intimate partner violence in potential romantic partners. Journal of Family Violence, 39(5), 835–848. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-023-00531-9

Arcos, D., Russo, L. N., Kazmierski, K. F. M., Zhou, E., Montiel, G. I, Bracho, A., Mejia, N., & Borelli, J. L. (2023). A relationship-based resilience program for promotores: Protocol for a randomized controlled waitlist trial. JMIR Research Protocols. https://doi.org/10.2196/51427

Russo, L. N., Arreola, J., Montiel, G., Torres, G., Leal, F., Guerra, N., & Borelli, J. L. (2022) Examining interpersonal traumas across low income Latinx mother-youth dyads: Associations between maternal child abuse exposure and racial discrimination with mother and youth psychopathology. Child Psychiatry & Human Development. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-022-01483-9

Arreola, J., Russo, L. N., Cervantes, B. R., Paredes, P., Hernandez, H. S., Marquez, C. M., Montiel, G., Leal, F., Guerra, N., & Borelli, J. L. (2022). Mas que palabras: Understanding the mental health consequences of sociodemographic and deportation fears in Latinx families. Special Issue of Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. https://doi.org/ 10.1037/tra0001351

Borelli, J. L., Russo, L. N., Arreola, J., Cervantes, B. R., Marquez, C. M., Montiel, G., Carballo, J., Avalos, V., Garcia, J., Bhatt, I., Torres, G., Leal, F., & Guerra, N. (2022). Saving a seat at the table for community members: co-creating an attachment-based intervention for low-income Latinx parent-youth dyads using a promotor/a model. Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome. https://doi.org/10.4081/ripppo.2022.598

Borelli, J. L., Russo, L. N., Arreola, J., Cervantes, B. R., Hecht, H. K., Leal, F., Montiel, G., Parades, P., & Guerra, N. (2021). Más Fuertes Juntos: Attachment relationship quality, but not demographic risk, predicts psychopathology in Latinx mother-youth dyads. Journal of Community Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22535