Esther J. Calzada, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Associate Dean for Equity and Inclusion, Norma and Clay Leben Fellow in Child and Family Behavioral Health

Esther Calzada is an associate professor, the associate dean for diversity and inclusion, and the Norma and Clay Leben Fellow in Child and Family Behavioral Health at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work. She also holds faculty affiliate positions in the Population Research Center and the Llilas Benson Latin American Studies and Collections at UT Austin, and in the Department of Population Health at the New York University School of Medicine.

Professor Calzada is a clinical child psychologist with expertise in parenting and early childhood development among ethnic minority, particularly Latino, families. Her program of research, focused on family and intergenerational processes and interventions, aims to reduce racial/ethnic disparities in academic achievement, behavior problems, and socio-emotional problems. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Education, and the National Science Foundation, her work advances understanding of the unique risk factors (e.g., acculturative stress, linguistic isolation, experiences of discrimination, migration trauma, undocumented status) that undermine healthy child development among Latinos, as well as the protective and promoting factors (e.g., ethnic identity, family cohesion) that offset such risk. Her work is published widely in psychology and medical journals.

Professor Calzada serves as associate editor for the Journal of Latin@ Psychology and as editorial board member of Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology.  She received her B.A. from Duke University and her Ph.D. from the University of Florida.

Curriculum Vitae (PDF)

Professional Interests

Parenting, early childhood development, academic achievement, Latino families, racial/ethnic disparities

Education

• Ph.D., University of Florida
• BA, Duke University

Research

• Implementing ParentCorps in Corpus Christi Independent School District  (2024)
• Linking community and family characteristics to adolescent adjustment  (2022)
• Latino students academic achievement: The role of early-childhood family and school characteristics  (2019)
• A lifespan conceptual model of ethnic/racial identity  (2018)
• Mexican-American parenting and early childhood development  (2017)
• Family and school contexts as predictors of early childhood Latino development  (2015)