Carl A. Castro

About

Carl A. Castro is a professor and director of the Military and Veterans Programs at the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work at the University of Southern California. He also serves as the director of the USC-RAND Epstein Family Foundation Center for Veterans Policy Research. Castro is a retired U.S. Army Colonel with over 30 years of service, having participated in campaigns such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Operation Northern Watch, and the Iraq War. His research focuses on the needs of active-duty military, veterans, and their families, including military transitions, trauma, and suicidality. He explores the military culture that influences acceptance and integration of service members and veterans, the effects of military trauma and stress on service members and their families, and the process of transitioning into and out of military service. Castro has chaired numerous NATO and international research groups and served on several National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine committees. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the National Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare. His work includes understanding social connectedness in veterans, evaluating military transition processes, and applying artificial intelligence to reduce military suicides.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Psychology
• Social psychology
• Medicine
• Psychiatry
• Demography
• Computer Science
• Clinical psychology
• Gender studies
• Psychoanalysis

Selected publications

• Understanding moral injury from a character domain perspective.

  Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology · 2021 · 57 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Within the past decade, the emerging field of moral injury has focused mostly on the clinical dimension of a traumatic event (Griffin et al., Journal of Traumatic Stress, 2019, 32, p. 350). This article will present a character dimension of moral injury and briefly introduce a dual pathway model of moral injury reflecting clinical and character dimensions. The investigation of the character domain borrows from the theoretical and empirical bases of moral philosophy, moral psychology, character p…

  DOI

• Experiences of Sexual Harassment, Stalking, and Sexual Assault During Military Service Among LGBT and Non‐LGBT Service Members

  Journal of Traumatic Stress · 2020 · 53 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Sexual victimization, including sexual harassment and assault, remains a persistent problem in the U.S. military. Service members identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) may face enhanced risk, but existing research is limited. We examined experiences of sexual harassment, stalking, and sexual assault victimization during service in a sample of LGBT and non-LGBT active duty service members. Service members who identified as LGBT (n = 227 LGB, n = 56 transgender) or non-LGBT…

  DOI

• Mental Health Outcomes Associated with Risk and Resilience among Military‐Connected Youth

  Family Process · 2020 · 25 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  = 30.067, df = 4, p < .001), with the highest rates (31.1% and 30.5%) observed in the two profiles with the lowest protective factors. Findings suggest most military families are faring well and highlight the importance of a thorough assessment that evaluates both the stressors military families face and the strengths they possess.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Longitudinal associations between insomnia, cannabis use and stress among <scp>US</scp> veterans

  Journal of Sleep Research · 2023-05-26 · 7 citations

  articleOpen access

  Insomnia is highly prevalent among military veterans, with rates nearly double that of civilian populations. Insomnia typically co-occurs with other psychological problems, including substance use (e.g. cannabis) and perceived stress. Much of the research focused on insomnia, stress and cannabis use explores cannabis as a sleep aid and a mechanism for stress relief. However, recent theoretical and empirical evidence suggests a dynamic interplay between insomnia, cannabis use and perceived stress…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Development and Validation of the Military Minority Stress Scale

  International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · 2023-06-20 · 6 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Despite affecting nearly 3% of active-duty service members, little is known about how LGBT-related stress experiences may relate to health outcomes. Thus, the present study sought to create a Military Minority Stress Scale and assess its initial reliability and construct validity in a cross-sectional study of active-duty LGBT service members (N = 248). Associations between 47 candidate items and health outcomes of interest were analyzed to retain those with substantial betas. Item response theor…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Sara Kintzle

  University of Southern California

  90 shared

• Charles W. Hoge

  Metropolitan State University of Denver

  82 shared

• Amy B. Adler

  Walter Reed Army Institute of Research

  65 shared

• Dennis McGurk

  United States Army Medical Command

  50 shared

• Jeffrey L. Thomas

  40 shared

• Paul D. Bliese

  University of South Carolina

  31 shared

• Kathrine Sullivan

  27 shared

• Shaddy K. Saba

  RAND Corporation

  27 shared

Awards & honors

• Gerson Award, American Psychological Association 2017
• Fulbright Specialist, J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarsh…
• Fellow, American Psychological Association
• Fellow, National Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare

Similar researchers at University of Southern California

• John Blosnichh-50
• John D. Clapph-40
• Benjamin Henwoodh-36