Lisa Sontag-Padilla

Lisa Sontag-Padilla
Behavioral and Social Scientist
Pittsburgh Office

Education

Ph.D. in developmental psychology, University of Florida; B.S. in psychology, Tulane University

Media Resources

This researcher is available for interviews.

To arrange an interview, contact the RAND Office of Media Relations at (310) 451-6913, or email media@rand.org.

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Overview

Lisa Sontag-Padilla is a behavioral and social scientist at the RAND Corporation. She has over 15 years of research experience focusing on youth mental health and well-being, as well as expertise in college mental health, social emotional well-being, parent-child relationships, research design, strategic planning, data collection and analysis, and program evaluation. Her work examines the role of social determinants of health at the individual, interpersonal, and system-levels. Sontag-Padilla's work spans evaluations of large federally-funded public health and mental health programs; and evaluations of locally-funded programs targeted at high-risk youth and families. Her research has appeared in top-tier, peer-reviewed journals and has been presented at nationally and internationally recognized peer-reviewed conferences. She completed her post-doctoral training in primary care research at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Sontag-Padilla earned her Ph.D. in developmental psychology and a graduate certificate in social science methodology and statistics from the University of Florida.

Recent Projects

  • Scaling Active Minds in PA
  • Interventions to improve reproductive health among adolescents
  • Evaluation of California Mental Health Prevention and Early Intervention Initiatives
  • Evaluation of New York City Community School Initiative
  • Evaluation of Healthy Futures

Selected Publications

Graber, J. A., & Sontag, L. M. "Internalizing problems during adolescence," in R. M. Lerner & L. Steinberg, Handbook of Adolescent Psychology, 3rd Ed: Volume 1 Individual Bases of Adolescent Development, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2009

Sontag, L. M., Clemans, K. H., Graber, J. A., & Lyndon, S. T., "Traditional and cyber aggressors and victims: A comparison of psychosocial characteristics," Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40, 2011

Sontag, L. M. & Graber, J. A., "Coping with perceived peer stress: Gender specific and common pathways to symptoms of psychopathology," Developmental Psychology, 46, 2010

Sontag, L. M., Graber, J. A., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Warren, M. P., "Coping with social stress: Implications for psychopathology in young adolescent girls," Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 36, 2008

Sontag, L. M., Dorn, L, D., Tissot, A., Susman, E. J., Beers, S., & Rose, S., "Executive functioning, cortisol reactivity, and symptoms of psychopathology in girls with premature adrenarche," Development and Psychopathology (forthcoming)

Sontag, L. M., Graber, J. A., & Clemans, K. H., "The role of peer stress and pubertal timing on symptoms of psychopathology in early adolescence," Journal of Youth and Adolescence

Sontag-Padilla, Lisa; Woodbridge, Michelle W.; Mendelsohn, Joshua.; D'Amico, Elizabeth J.; Osilla, Karen Chan.; Jaycox, Lisa.; Eberhart, Nicole K.; Burnam, M. Audrey; Stein, Bradley D., "Factors affecting mental health service utilization among California public college and university students," Psychiatric Services, 67(8), 2016

Sontag-Padilla, L., Dunbar, M. S., Ye, F., Kase, C. A., Fein, R., et al., "Strengthening College Students' Mental Health Knowledge, Awareness, and Helping Behaviors: the Impact of Active Minds, a Peer Mental Health Organization," Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 57, 2018

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