Ana Maria del Rio-Gonzalez

• Universidad de los Andes (Colombia), Psychology, BS, 1999
• Universidad Nacional de Colombia (Colombia), Psychology and Health with focus on Quantitative Health Research, MA, 2005
• Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain), Methodology for the Behavioral and Health Sciences, MS, 2010
• The George Washington University, Applied Social Psychology, PhD, 2015

Social and Behavioral Approaches to Health (PubH 6007)

Advanced Topics in Social and Behavioral Sciences (PubH 8525)

Dr. del Río-González's research activities have focused primarily on 3 areas:

1. Intersectionality and Intersectional Stigma and Discrimination. Dr. del Río-González has been a co-investigator on several federally-funded projects to advance our understanding of how multiple and interlocking identities (e.g., ethnicity, gender identity, and immigrant status) and the social processes associated with them (e.g., white supremacy, transphobia and xenophobia) can drive health inequities among marginalized populations, especially at the intersections of race/ethnicity and sexual and gender minority status.
2. HIV prevention. Dr. del Río-González has been the principal investigator (PI) or co-investigator on several federally-funded projects to identify and intervene on multi-level factors associated with HIV prevention among highly impacted populations, including sexual and gender minoritized populations in the US and in Colombia, Black men in the US, and people with a history of involvement with the criminal justice system (i.e., incarceration, parole and probation).
3. Measurement development (Psychometrics). Dr. del Río-González has lead or collaborated in the development, cultural adaptation and psychometric assessment of scales to measure a variety of constructs, including: intersectional discrimination; social normative influences and future time perspective among Colombian adolescents; attitudes related to the use of medical marijuana among glaucoma patients; experiences of Black men in the US – both in general as well as specifically regarding encounters with police and law enforcement.

Selected representative publications (for a full list of publications see the vita linked above).

*indicates author is/was trainee

Intersectionality and Intersectional Stigma and Discrimination.

1. Bastos, J. L., Gebrekristos, L. T., Dale, S. K., del Río-González, A. M., Bauer, G. R., & Scheim, A. I. (2025). The inner workings of the Intersectional Discrimination Index: (re)assessing the internal validity of the anticipated, day-to-day, and major discrimination measures. Stigma and Health. Advance online publication.
2. Eisenberg, M.E., Gower, A.L., del Río-González, A.M., Rider, G.N., Bowleg, L., and Russell, S.T., (2024). Interpersonal protective factors for LGBTQ+ youth at multiple intersecting social identities and positions. Annals of LGBTQ Public and Population Health. doi.org/10.1891/LGBTQ-2022-0027
3. Rodriguez-Hart, C., Boone, C.A., del Río-González, A.M., Kutner, B., Baral, S., Burns, P.A., German, D., Eaton, L., Lucas, L., Remien, R.H., Ellis, M. & Dale, S. (2022). Monitoring Intersectional Stigma: A Key Strategy to Ending the HIV Epidemic. American Journal of Public Health, 112, S4, S350-S355
4. del Río-González, A.M., Holt, S.L., & Bowleg, L. (2021). Powering and Structuring Intersectionality: Beyond Main and Interactive Associations. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, 49, 33-37. doi:10.1007/s10802-020-00720-w
5. Bowleg, L., del Río-González, A. M., Holt, S. L., Pérez, C., Massie, J. S., Mandell, J. E., & Boone, C. (2017). Intersectional Epistemologies of Ignorance: How Behavioral and Social Science Research Shapes What We Know, Think We Know, and Don’t Know About US Black Men’s Sexualities. The Journal of Sex Research, 1-27. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2017.1295300

HIV prevention.

1. Vincent, W., del Río-González, A.M., Neilands, T.B., & Bowleg, L. (2023). Resilience and its limits: The roles of individual resilience, social capital, racial discrimination and binge drinking on sexual behavior among Black heterosexual men. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 52, 1419–1434. doi.org/10.1007/s10508-022-02488-0
2. del Río-González, A.M., Lameiras-Fernández, M., Modrakovic, D.*, Aguayo-Romero, R., Glickman, C.*, Bowleg, L. & Zea, M.C. (2021). Global scoping review of HIV prevention research with transgender people: Moving from trans-inclusive to trans-centered research. JIAS, 24, e25786. doi:10.1002/jia2.25786.
3. del Río‐González, A.M., Zea, M.C., Calabrese, S.K., Betancourt, F., Pacheco‐Cabrales, J., Estrada‐Santiago, Y., & Poppen, P.J. (2021). Development and Evaluation of an Online Education‐Entertainment Intervention to Increase Knowledge of HIV and Uptake of HIV Testing Among Colombian Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18, 1811. doi:10.3390/ijerph18041811
4. Groves, A. K., Zhan, W., del Río-González, A. M., Rosenberg, A., & Blankenship, K. M. (2017). Dual Incarceration and Condom Use in Committed Relationships. AIDS and Behavior, 21, 1-8. doi:10.1007/s10461-017-1720-y
5. Reisen, C., Zea, M.C., Bianchi, F.T., Poppen, P.J., del Río-González, A.M., Aguayo-Romero, R.A., & Pérez, C. (2014). HIV testing among MSM in Bogotá, Colombia: The role of structural and individual characteristics. AIDS Education and Prevention, 26, 328-344. doi: 10.1521/aeap.2014.26.4.328.

Measurement development (Psychometrics).

1. Bastos, J. L., Gebrekristos, L. T., Dale, S. K., del Río-González, A. M., Bauer, G. R., & Scheim, A. I. (2025). The inner workings of the Intersectional Discrimination Index: (re)assessing the internal validity of the anticipated, day-to-day, and major discrimination measures. Stigma and Health. Advance online publication.
2. English, D., Bowleg, L., del Río-González, A. M., Tschann, J. M., Agans, R. P., & Malebranche, D. J. (2017). Measuring Black Men’s Police-Based Discrimination Experiences: Development and Validation of the Police and Law Enforcement (PLE) Scale. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 23, 185-199. doi:10.1037/cdp0000137
3. Yamanis, T., del Río-González, A. M., Rapoport, L., Norton, C., Little, C., Barker, S., & Ornelas, I.J. (2021). The development of a fear of deportation measure to understand its contribution to health for immigrant Latinx men who have sex with men. Advances in Medical Sociology, Sexual and Gender Minority Health, 21, 103-131. doi :10.1108/S1057-629020210000021010
4. Bowleg, L., English, D., del Río-González, A.M., Burkholder, G.J., Teti, M. & Tschann, J.M. (2016). Measuring the pros and cons of what it means to be a Black man: development and validation of the Black Men's Experiences Scale (BMES). Psychology of Men & Masculinity,17,177-188. doi:10.1037/men0000026
5. del Río-González, A.M. & Herrera, A.N. (2006). Desarrollo de un instrumento para evaluar perspectiva de tiempo futuro en adolescentes. (Development of a scale to measure future time perspective in adolescents). Avances en medición, 4, 47-60.

Mental health.

1. Bowleg, L., Boone, C., Holt, S.L., del Río-González, A.M. & Mbaba, M. (2022). Beyond “Heartfelt Condolences”: A Critical Take on Mainstream Psychology’s Responses to Anti-Black Police Brutality. American Psychologist, 77(3), 362–380. doi: 10.1037/amp0000899
2. del Río-González, A.M., Mbaba, M.*, Johnson, C., Teti, M., Massie, J., & Bowleg, L. (2022). Strengths Despite Stress: Social-Structural Stressors and Psychosocial Buffers of Depressive Symptoms among U.S. Black Men. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 92, 133-143. doi:10.1037/ort0000595
3. Zea, M.C., Barnett, A.P., del Río-González, A.M., Parchem, B., Pinho, V., Le, H.N., & Poppen, P.J. (2022). Experiences of violence and mental health outcomes among Colombian cisgender men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 37 (13-14), NP11991–NP12013. doi: 10.1177/0886260521997445
4. del Río-González, A. M., Zea, M.C., Flórez-Donado, J., Torres-Salazar, P. & Meyer, I.H. (2021). Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Change Efforts and Suicide Morbidity Among Sexual and Gender Minority Adults in Colombia.  LGBT Health, 8, 463-472. doi:10.1089/lgbt.2020.0490
5. Bowleg, L., del Río-González, A. M., Mbaba, M.*, Boone, C.*, & Holt, S.* (2020). Negative Police Encounters and Police Avoidance as Pathways to Depressive Symptoms among U.S. Black Men. American Journal of Public Health, 110 (S1), S160-S166. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2019.305460

Other topics.

1. del Río-González, A.M. (2021). To Latinx or not to Latinx: A Question of Gender-inclusivity, not Gender-neutrality. American Journal of Public Health, 111, 1018-1021. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2021.306238
2. Barnett, A.P.*, del Río-González, A. M., Parchem, B.*, Aguayo-Romero, R.*, Nakamura, N., Calabrese, S.K., Poppen, P.J., Zea, M.C. (2019). Content Analysis of Psychological Research with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People of Color in the United States: 1969–2018. American Psychologist, 74, 898-911. doi: 10.1037/amp0000562.
3. Blankenship, K., del Río-González, A. M., Keene, D., Groves, A. K., & Rosenberg, A. (2018). Mass Incarceration, Race Inequality, and Health: Expanding Concepts and Assessing Impacts on Well-Being. Social Science & Medicine, 215, 45-52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.08.042
4. Friedman, S.L., Sigelman, C.K., Rohrbeck, C.A., & del Río-González, A.M. (2017). Quantity and Quality of Communication during Parental Deployment: Links to Adolescents’ Functioning. Applied Developmental Science, 21, 285-300. doi:10.1080/10888691.2016.1207536
5. Belyea, D.A., Alhabshan, R., del Río-González, A.M., Chadha, N., Lamba, T., Golshani, C., … Dan, J.A. (2016).  Marijuana use among patients with glaucoma in a city with legalized medical marijuana use. JAMA Ophthalmology, 134, 259-264. doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2015.5209