Dr. Cardoso’s research examines how exposure to trauma and psychosocial stress before, during and post-migration affects the mental health of Latino immigrants and their children. She has been funded to examine the unique stressors associated parenting in the context of deportation risk; trauma, coping strategies, and substance use behaviors in unaccompanied migrant youth; and the local and state challenges associated with large influxes of Central American children and families on school, legal and health and human services in the Houston area.