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Anthony Roberson

Anthony Roberson, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of School Psychology and Health Service Psychology,
College of Human Sciences and Humanities

Email: robersona@uhcl.edu
Office: Bayou Building 2617.17

Biography

Anthony "Tony" Roberson, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the department of Psychological & Behavioral Health Sciences at UHCL. He obtained his doctoral degree from Louisiana State University’s School Psychology program and currently holds credentials as a licensed psychologist (LP) and licensed specialist in school psychology (LSSP) in the state of Texas.

Prior to entering academia, Dr. Roberson practiced as a school psychologist in Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, where he was involved in assessment, intervention, and consultation work with early childhood, elementary, and secondary students and staff. Beyond schools, he also has experience providing a variety of services in clinic and residential treatment settings.

His research interests broadly concern improving school-based psychological and behavioral measurement practices to make data more practically useful for efficiently monitoring risk and wellbeing at both the student and systems levels (e.g., whole classroom, whole school). His current work focuses on refining positively-oriented behavior rating scales for universal screening to help reduce systemic barriers to accessing quality care and promote student behavioral and mental health more equitably across diverse and resource-limited school systems.

A secondary line of research involves improving quantitative research methods in applied psychology such as (1) how best to ask demographic questions to balance respect for participant identity with analytic feasibility and (2) understanding how applied researchers select statistical control variables and how to improve these practices.

When Dr. Roberson is not professing, he can likely be found having dance parties with his son, watching an old movie, or playing the bass. He never learned how to ride a bike but has grown to accept that with self-compassion and kindness.

Areas of Expertise

  • School-based universal mental health screening
  • Systems-level prevention and intervention services to promote student wellbeing
  • Youth wellbeing measurement
  • Clinical behavior analysis and acceptance and mindfulness-based therapeutic interventions (e.g., ACT)
  • Quantitative research methods and data analysis with R, particularly related to behavior rating scale development/refinement, latent factor models, and correlational designs

Publications

  1. Roberson, A. J., & Upton, S. R. (2026). Mindfulness measures for youth and students. In T. L. Renshaw & S. R. Jimerson (Eds.), Using mindfulness to promote mental health in schools (pp. 81–98). Oxford.
  2. Qi, T., Strait, G., Roberson, A. J., & Terry, J. D. (2024). School-based motivational interviewing: Change and sustain talks during goal setting. Psychology in the Schools, 62, 1–32. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.23313
  3. Enderwitz, M., Morgan, V. R., Roberson, A. J., & Schanding, G. T., Jr. (2024). Perceived parental rejection as a predictor of psychological distress in LGBTQ+ adults and the moderating effects of self-acceptance of sexuality. LGBTQ+ Family: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 20(3), 171–189. https://doi.org/10.1080/27703371.2024.2306305
  4. Ibarra, C., Reinbergs, E. J., Anderson, J. R., & Roberson, A. J. (2024). A systematic examination of Texas school district websites for suicide prevention information. Contemporary School Psychology, 29, 59–69. https://doi-org.uhcl.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s40688-023-00486-0
  5. Renshaw, T. L., Weeks, S. N., Roberson, A. J., & Vinal, S. (2023). ACT in schools: A public health approach. In M. P. Twohig, M. E. Levin, & J. M. Peterson (Eds.), Oxford handbook of acceptance and commitment therapy (pp. 564–583).  https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-acceptance-and-commitment-therapy-9780197550076?cc=us&lang=en&. PsyArXiv preprint: https://psyarxiv.com/ar3m8
  6. Roberson, A. J., & Renshaw, T. L. (2022). Dominance of general versus specific aspects of wellbeing on the Student Subjective Wellbeing Questionnaire. School Psychology, 37, 399–409. https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000513 
  7. Renshaw, T. L., Weeks, S. N., Roberson, A. J., Upton, S. R., Barr, J. D., Phan, M. L., & Farley, C. D. (2022). Cultivating mindfulness in schools to promote well-being. In K. Allen, M. J. Furlong, D. Vella-Brodrick, & S. Suldo (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology in schools: Supporting process and practice (3rd ed; pp. 135–148). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003013778-11. PsyArXiv preprint: https://psyarxiv.com/6gp8y  
  8. Goodwin, A. K. B., Roberson, A. J., Watson, A., Chen, G. L., & Long, A. C. J. (2022). The impact of COVID-19, mental health distress, and school-based sociocultural protective factors among elementary-aged children and their caregivers. School Psychology International, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/01430343221128192 
  9. Weeks, S. N., Renshaw, T. L., & Roberson, A. J. (2021). Screening depression and anxiety via brief measures of psychological inflexibility. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 40, 255–270. https://doi.org/10.1177/07342829211050739 
  10. Roberson, A. J., & Renshaw, T. L. (2019). Initial development and validation of the Student Wellbeing Teacher-Report Scale. School Mental Health, 11, 578–599. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-018-09305-x 
  11. Roberson, A. J., & Renshaw, T. L. (2017). Structural validity of the HBSC bullying measure: Self-report rating scales of youth victimization and perpetration behavior. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 36, 628–643. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734282917696932 
  12. Renshaw, T. L., Hammons, K. N., & Roberson, A. J. (2016). General versus specific methods for classifying U.S. students’ bullying involvement: Investigating classification agreement, prevalence rates, and concurrent validity. School Psychology Review, 45, 400–416. https://doi.org/10.17105/SPR45-4.400-416 
  13. Renshaw, T. L., Roberson, A. J., & Hammons, K. N. (2016). The functionality of four bullying involvement classification schemas: Prevalence rates and associations with mental health and school outcomes. School Mental Health, 8, 332–343. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-015-9171-y 

Courses (Current Academic Year)

  • PSYC 6039 Practicum in School Psychology
  • PSYC 6130 Psychological Measurement
  • PSYC 6138 Design & Evaluation of School Health Programs
  • PSYC 6230 Intervention II (Social & Behavioral Skills)
  • PSYC 7130 Experimental Methodology
  • PSYC 7131 Quantitative Statistical Analysis I
  • PSYC 7132 Quantitative Statistical Analysis II