Distinguished Speaker - Culture and Coping: A Programmatic Research to Study Collective Coping

Presenter: Dr. Ben C. H. Kuo, (Certified Psychologist), Professor of Clinical Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada

Abstract: There has been a long standing history and interest in psychology and health-related disciplines in studying individuals’ coping behaviours in the face of stress. However, the relationship between coping and cultural influences has not been systematically articulated or investigated until very recently. In this lecture, I will present the conceptualizations, the theories, and the empirical evidences for researching the interface between culture and coping through a series of programmatic studies. In particular, the phenomenon/construct of ‘collective coping’ will be highlighted through instrument development, psychometric analysis and model testing studies of the Cross-Cultural Coping Scale (Kuo, Roysircar, & Newby-Clark, 2006). This presentation intends to illustrate how ‘culture’ and its consequences might be investigated empirically in clinical and psychological research.