Paul Toro
Professor
Director, Research Group on Homelessness and Poverty
313-577-0806
8306.1, 5057 Woodward
Department
PsychologyPaul Toro
Paul A. Toro is Professor of Psychology at Wayne State University in Detroit. He and his Research Group on Homelessness and Poverty have conducted a wide range of studies on homelessness over the past 30 years, including studies on homeless adults, families, and youth. His studies have compared homeless to matched housed samples, evaluated interventions, provided careful assessment of mental disorders and substance abuse, collected data across nations, assessed public opinion, analyzed media and professional coverage, and followed large homeless samples in longitudinal designs. Since its inception, Dr. Toro has been a member of the Research Council of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
Education
Ph.D. in Clinical/Community Psychology, University of Rochester, 1983 ; Social and Developmental Psychology MinorsSelected publications
Tompsett, C.J., & Toro, P.A. (2010). Predicting overt and covert antisocial behaviors: parents, peers, and homelessness. Journal of Community Psychology, 38, 469-485.
Israel, N., Toro, P. A., & Ouellette, N. (2010). Changes in the composition of the homeless population: 1992 to 2002. American Journal of Community Psychology, 46, 49-59.
Heinze, H., Jozefowicz-Simbeni, D. M., & Toro, P.A. (2010). Taking the youth perspective: Assessment of program characteristics that promote positive development in homeless and at-risk youth. Children and Youth Services Review, 32, 1365-1372.
Ahmed, S., Fowler, P.J., & Toro, P. A. (2011). Family, public and private religiousness and psychological well-being over time in at-risk adolescents. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 14(4), 393-408.
Fowler, P.J., Toro, P.A., & Miles, B. (2011). Emerging adulthood and leaving foster care: Settings associated with mental health. American Journal of Community Psychology, 47, 335–348.
Hobden, K.L., Forney, J.C., Durham, K.W., & Toro, P.A. (2011). Limiting attrition in longitudinal research on homeless adolescents: What works best? Journal of Community Psychology, 39, 443-451.
Heinze, H., Hernandez Jozefowicz, D. M., Toro, P.A., & Blue, L.R. (2012). Reasons for homelessness: An empirical typology. Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, 7, 88-101.
Gocman,M., Szarzynska, M., & Toro, P.A. (2012). Youth aging out of foster care in Poland: Preliminary evaluation results from a pilot prevention program. Polish Journal of Applied Psychology, 10(1), 89-106.
Tompsett, C.J., Domoff, S.E., & Toro, P.A. (2013). Peer substance use and homelessness predicting substance abuse from adolescence through early adulthood. American Journal of Community Psychology. 51, 520-529.
Gocman, M., Szarzynska, M., & Toro, P.A. (2013). Problemy psychospoleczne osob opuszczajacych systemy opieki zastepczej [Psychosocial problems among youth leaving the foster care system]. Rodzina we wspolczesnej Polsce a rozwoj jednostki [Family and individual growth in contemporary Poland]. Biuletyn Sekcji Psychologii Rozwojowej, Polskie Towarzystwo Psychologiczne [Bulletin of the Section of Developmental Psychology, Polish Psychological Association], 10, 33-41.
Bokszczanin, A., Toro, P.A., Hobden, K.L., & Tompsett, C.J.. (2014). Post-traumatic stress disorder among homeless adults in Poland: Prevalence and predictors. Open Journal of Psychiatry, 4, 9-15.
Toro, P.A., Hobden, K.L., Durham, K.W., Oko-Riebau, M, & Bokszczanin, A. (2014). Comparing the characteristics of homeless adults in Poland and the United States. American Journal of Community Psychology, 53, 134-145.
Toro, P.A., & Oko-Riebau, M. (2015). Social support and stress among homeless adults in Southern Poland. Journal of Community Psychology, 43, 430-446.
Braciszewski, J.M., Toro, P.A. & Stout, R.L. (2016). Understanding the attainment of stable housing: A seven-year longitudinal analysis of homeless adolescents. Journal of Community Psychology, 44, 358-366.
Ponce, A.N., Cowan, B.A., Toro, P.A., Schumacher, J., You, Z., Gross, S.Z., Bray, J.H., Aralis, H., & Milburn, N.G. (2017). Psychologists’ roles in ending homelessness. Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless, 26, 116-127.
Toro, P.A., Lesperance, T.M., & Braciszewski, J.M. (2011, September). The heterogeneity of homeless youth in America: Examining typologies. Research Matters (pp.1-12). Washington, DC: Homelessness Research Institute, National Alliance to End Homelessness.
Toro, P.A., & Reid, H.H. (2016). Homelessness and mental health: A research perspective. In H. S. Friedman (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Mental Health (2nd Edition). Vol 2. Waltham, MA: Academic Press, pp. 325-331.
Toro, P.A., & Carlson, C. (2016). Public opinion, politics, and the media. In D. W. Burnes & D. L. DiLeo (Eds.), Ending homelessness: Why we haven’t, how we can (chapter 14, pp. 231-244). Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Opperman, K., Hansen, D., & Toro, P.A. (2017). Depression screening at a community health fair: Descriptives and treatment linkage. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 31, 365-367.
Hanson, D.M., & Toro, P.A. (2019). Contributions of community psychologists to research, theory, intervention, and policy on homelessness since 1980. Journal of Urban Affairs. https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2019.1645571.