Paul Jose

Victoria University of Wellington · School of Psychology

Cultural identity research has largely focused on subjective and individualised notions of identity. In recent research we introduced the concept of "cultural embeddedness" as a framework for understanding the collective expectations derived from cultural values, practices and beliefs, and how these facets of culture are integrated into identity an...

For many young adults today, omnipresent access to and use of digital technologies has formed a core feature of their identity development. However, little research has examined whether attitudes toward engagement with digital technologies during adolescence impact on identity in young adulthood. Using a longitudinal path modeling approach, the cur...

One of the key roles of culture is to shape how human groups pursue personal and collective wellbeing, and thus each culture contains prescriptions and customs about how to achieve optimal functioning and wellbeing. This chapter identifies four fundamental differences in the conceptualizations of mental wellbeing across cultures. The identified dif...

Little is known about the possible benefits of parent-led activities to enable school readiness for New Zealand young children. A two-year longitudinal study of parents and their children (102 4-year-olds and 104 5-year-olds at Time 1) was conducted. Parents completed the Encouragement of Academic Skills in Young Children (EASYC) self-report measur...

Increasing substance use and decreasing well‐being are typical in adolescence, yet how social contexts shape disparate development during this time is less well‐understood. A latent growth class analysis was conducted that identified groups of early (N = 706; Agem = 12.20) and middle (N = 666; Agem = 14.38) adolescents distinguished by rates of sub...

Introduction: Previous studies have shown that engaging in formal social participation may protect against declining mental health, but social network size (the number of close social ties a person has) may moderate the relationship. We assessed the potential moderating role of social network size using longitudinal data. Methods: Nationally repr...

Although considerable attention has been devoted to the topic of savoring positive experiences in adulthood (e.g., Bryant and Veroff in Savoring: A new model of positive experience, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Mahwah, 2007. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760701794434), research on adolescent savoring is lacking. To address this gap in the lite...

Colonised indigenous minorities around the world are constantly navigating the complex space between their heritage culture and mainstream society. In this paper, we explore how embeddedness in heritage cultural values, beliefs, and practises influence the behaviours of indigenous minorities, particularly during intercultural contact with the post-...

Conceptualised as an adaptive positive emotion regulation strategy, savoring has been shown to mediate and moderate emotional reactions to positive life events. In contrast, in the present study, we sought to determine whether amplifying savoring might evidence an uplift propagation function paralleling the previously documented stress generation f...

Objectives The present study was designed to examine the relationship between dispositional mindfulness and grit in community samples and to explore the potential moderating role of culture and meditation experience across the USA and Thai cultures. Methods American and Thai participants completed a questionnaire which included measures of trait m...

Introduction: Previous studies have shown that formal social participation may reduce the risk of developing chronic conditions. Yet, the underlying mechanisms are largely unknown. In this study, we assessed the potential mediating role of quality of life and depressive symptoms in this association using longitudinal data. Method: We analyzed nati...

Background: Research indicates that social isolation and loneliness increase the risk of mental disorders, but less is known about the distinct contributions of different aspects of isolation. We aimed to distinguish the pathways through which social disconnectedness (eg, small social network, infrequent social interaction) and perceptions of socia...

Background Research indicates that social isolation and loneliness increase the risk of mental disorders, but less is known about the distinct contributions of different aspects of isolation. We aimed to distinguish the pathways through which social disconnectedness (eg, small social network, infrequent social interaction) and perceptions of social...

A large proportion of youth believe that the world of cyberspace provides them with a relatively safe and anonymous digital bubble ripe for uninhibited self-expression. At the same time, observers have noted an increase of individuals behaving in an unrestrained manner on the Internet, while researchers have reported elevated rates of cyber aggress...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the Ways of Savoring Checklist (WOSC-J), adapted from the original English version of the Ways of Savoring Checklist (Bryant & Veroff, 2007). We translated and back-translated the WOSC-J, and administered it to 520 Japanese adults using an online surve...

Mindfulness, namely present-oriented attention that is non-judgmental in nature, and grit, namely perseverance and passion for long-term goals, are psychological constructs that have recently received considerable attention within the West. Given the theoretical importance and heretofore lack of research into how these two constructs relate to each...

We examined interviewers’ use of visual aids (e.g., diagrams, dolls, drawings), their questioning strategies, children's productivity, and factors associated with visual aid use in 98 forensic interviews with children (6–16 years) about sexual abuse. Use of aids was common: 62% of interviews included at least one, with sketch-plans being the most c...

Research has shown that explanatory style predicts negative mood outcomes as well as positive mood outcomes, but the mechanisms by which this occurs are unclear. We investigated here whether the manner in which people savor life events might help explain these relationships. Specifically, we examined whether amplifying and dampening savoring mediat...

Over the course of the last seven years, the average weekly screen-time of youth has dramatically increased. The present study was designed to better understand how young people utilise multiple types of information and communication technology (ICT) in their everyday lives and how these preferences may be associated with key aspects of their devel...

This study is the first to investigate the factor structure of the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF) in New Zealand. Towards this end, traditional Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and the new method of Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM) were used. Both ESEM and CFA supported the tripartite model of mental well-being in comp...

Although cross-cultural research suggests that the development and functionality of secondary coping strategies are substantially influenced by the broader cultural context, research findings are not completely conclusive. Some studies indicate that secondary coping is more adaptive for Asian participants compared to Westerners, while others emphas...

Inferential statistics refer to statistical computations that seek to generalise findings from a given sample to a larger population. The process of making these inferences is based on a platform of three important assumptions: 1) performing appropriate sampling procedures and obtaining appropriate statistical outputs to infer characteristics of th...

Understanding the predictors of the onset and maintenance of substance use in adolescence is important because it is a recognized health risk. The present longitudinal study examined whether negative peer influence and peer connectedness predicted changes in adolescent alcohol, cigarette, marijuana, and other illegal drug use, and reciprocally whet...

Regular supervision influences interviewing quality with child witnesses. It is unclear, however, whether interviewers recognize the importance of supervision, and how often they access it. The present study surveyed 39 New Zealand Specialist Child Witness Interviewers (otherwise known as forensic interviewers), and examined: (a) their access to, a...

This study examined adherence to the New Zealand Specialist Child Witness Interviewing (SCWI) model in 93 interviews with children about sexual abuse allegations. Interviewers (n = 27) demonstrated good adherence to the scripted components of the model during the preparation stage of the interview. When investigating the abuse allegation, interview...

We used sequential analysis to examine the relationship between interviewer question types, child responsiveness, and subsequent interviewer prompting in 103 forensic interviews investigating sexual abuse allegations with children (6-16 years old). Broad open-ended prompts were more likely to elicit responses (83%) than nonresponses (17%) from chil...

In well-being research the term happiness is often used as synonymous with life satisfaction. However, little is known about lay people’s understanding of happiness. Building on the available literature, this study explored lay definitions of happiness across nations and cultural dimensions, analyzing their components and relationship with particip...

Background Meaning in life is a key indicator of subjective well-being and quality of life. Further developments in understanding and enhancing the construct will depend inter alia on the sound measurement thereof. This study is at the forefront of applying modern psychometric techniques to the Meaning in Life Questionnaire, a scale widely used to...

Although a substantial body of literature on stress and coping in international students exists, research has focused on the difficulties of adapting to a new cultural environment rather than the stress of leaving home (termed ‘uprooting’). The present study examined uprooting stress and coping (primary and secondary) strategies as predictors of an...

The Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) is widely used in research contexts to measure the extent to which participants (children or adults) report specific or general memories in response to cue words. Recalling fewer specific and more general memories (overgeneral memory) has been shown to be linked to depression in adults, but findings for youth,...

It has been established that bullying and victimisation have negative outcomes for those involved. However, this problem has received little research attention in New Zealand samples, particularly with longitudinal designs. The incidence of four types bullying was assessed in a large adolescent New Zealand sample including; traditional bullying ins...

Despite the well-established benefits of mindfulness in clinical settings, little is known about the unique relationships between specific mindfulness facets and unique and shared symptoms of anxiety and depression. The present study sought to examine how the five facets of mindfulness predict the three tripartite components of depression and anxie...

The present investigation was designed to answer the question of whether positive peer relations (defined as “peer connectedness” in the current study) fosters the development of positive affect, and similarly whether negative peer influences (i.e., misbehaviour caused by friend’s influences) fosters the development of negative affect. Self‐report...

In a three-wave, year-long, large-sample dataset (N = 755), 10 candidate "personality strengths" (Grit, Gratitude, Curiosity, Savoring, Control Beliefs, Meaning in Life-Presence, Strengths Use, and Engagement, Pleasure, and Meaning-Based Orientations Toward Happiness) were compared as predictors of 6-month increases in goal attainment, and as moder...

The Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) Scale is used in routine clinical practice and research to estimate symptom and functional severity and longitudinal change. Concerns about poor interrater reliability have been raised, and the present study evaluated the effect of a Web-based GAF training program designed to improve interrater reliability...

Meaning in life is vital for human wellbeing. Research has examined important sources of meaning: however, it has not yet investigated whether certain sources of meaning might be more predictive of overall meaning and wellbeing. A community sample of 247 individuals (30 – 69 years) rated the degree of meaningfulness they experienced in certain doma...

The present cross-sectional, cross-national study was conducted to determine whether adolescents in China and New Zealand use brooding rumination to respond to stress similarly or differently. Self-reported everyday stress intensity, brooding rumination, and depressive symptoms were compared between 1624 New Zealand (NZ) and 914 Chinese early adole...

The orientation to happiness framework proposes that individuals seek well-being through three behavioral orientations: Pleasure, meaning, and engagement. We investigated how orientations to happiness (OTH) influenced the pursuit and experience of daily activities using experience sampling methods. One hundred and seventy three people responded to...

Adolescents who endorse greater levels of future orientation report greater well-being over time, but we do not know the mechanism by which this happens. The present longitudinal study examined whether both adaptive as well as maladaptive coping strategies might explain how future orientation leads to ill-being and well-being over time in young New...

Objectives: To explore the mediating role of protein interleukin-6 (IL-6) on the relationship between forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) and 6-minute walk distance (6MWD) and, further, to determine whether status variables (such as age, sex, and body mass index [BMI]) operate as moderators of this mediation relationship. Design: Moderat...

This multinational study simultaneously tested three prominent hypotheses—universal disposition, cultural relativity, and livability—that explained differences in subjective well-being across nations. We performed multilevel structural equation modeling to examine the hypothesized relationships at both individual and cultural levels in 33 nations....

Although research has shown that loneliness in adolescents leads to higher rates of depressive symptoms, the presumed protective factor of social connectedness has not been studied in conjunction with these two constructs. The aim of the present study was to determine if social connectedness would predict lower loneliness and depressive symptoms ov...

Human experiences and cognitions are imbued with affect. Inevitably, therefore, people behold not only their past, but also their present and future through affectively coloured lenses with varying degrees of positivity and negativity. The present study employed our new psychometric instrument the Affectively Balanced Time Perspective Scale (ABTPS)...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine whether young people who bully others in childhood (aged seven to 12 years old) go on to have worse health outcomes than non-bullies 39 years later. Furthermore, four categories of engagement in bullying behaviors (bully, victim, bully-victim, and not involved) were compared in order to assess diffe...

The present study examined the associations among family connectedness, ethnic identity, and ethnic engagement on changes in well-being over time for the understudied population of Ma̅ori (indigenous New Zealand) youth. Data were collected as part of a longitudinal study of youth connectedness in New Zealand using self-report measures at 3 measurem...

Research has identified a variety of sources for deriving meaning in one's life. The present research examined how central sources of meaning varied according to age, gender, and level of education, and, second, whether these sources predicted well-being differentially. A New Zealand community sample of 247 individuals (30 - 69 years) provided open...

The present study investigated the role of connectedness to the family and school contexts on future orientation of New Zealand adolescents. Participants were 1774 young people (51.9% female) aged between 9 and 16 years at time 1 of the study, who reported their connectedness to family and school and their perceptions of future orientation at three...

The most commonly used measures of perceived control for young adolescents are dated, psychometrically flawed, or focused on particular domains. To address the need for a general purpose measure of control for this age range, the overall sense of control (OSOC) and the domains of control (DOC) subscales of the Shapiro Control Inventory (D. H. Shapi...

Review of The Oxford Handbook of Happiness

A growing body of research supports the application of Response Styles Theory to adolescent populations. Although the essential dynamic, namely that rumination increases the incidence of depressive symptoms, has been demonstrated among adolescents, a number of important empirical questions remain, such as: what are the gender differences and develo...

The present study examined whether discrepancies between adolescent and parent ratings of family dynamics predict adolescent well-being over time. Self-report data from 972 adolescent-parent dyads collected at two time points separated by one year were analyzed. Both adolescents and parents rated a variety of family dynamics (e.g., cohesion), and a...

Understanding factors that contribute to delusional ideation has important clinical implications. This study looked at the impact of mindfulness and negative schemas on changes in delusional ideation over time. A sample of University students was selected to investigate processes related to delusional ideation in a non-clinical sample. A web-based...

The present study employed the learned helplessness paradigm to explore the possibility that culturally based parent beliefs influence the way in which young children approach academic tasks. Children, aged between 7 and 8 years, from New Zealand, the United States of America, China, and Japan participated in three different school-related tasks. E...

This longitudinal study was designed to investigate whether or not social connectedness predicts psychological well‐being over time. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the temporal relations between these constructs assessed yearly for 3 years for a sample of 1,774 10‐ to 15‐year‐olds (at Time 1). Results indicated that global connect...

The present study investigated the stabilities of and interrelationships among traditional (i.e., face‐to‐face) bullying, traditional victimhood, cyber bullying, and cyber victimhood among adolescents over time. About 1,700 adolescents aged 11–16 years at Time 1 self‐reported levels of both bullying and victimization in four contexts (in school, ou...

Bryant and Veroff (20077. Bryant , FB and Veroff , J . 2007. Savoring: A new model of positive experience, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. View all references, Savoring: A new model of positive experience. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates) have proposed that savoring, namely, regulating the emotional impact of positive events by o...

The study investigated perceived religious discrimination and three facets of Muslim identity (psychological, behavioural, and visible) as predictors of psychological well‐being (life satisfaction and psychological symptoms) of 153 Muslim women in New Zealand. The results indicated that although visibility (wearing hijab) was associated with greate...

Extracurricular activities are important in many young people's lives and have been associated with positive academic, psychological, and social outcomes. However, most previous research has been limited to school-based activities in the North American context. This study expands existing literature by analyzing longitudinal data from more than 1,3...

Evidence suggests that negative schemas, mood and psychological flexibility are associated with delusional thinking. However, the temporal relationship of these variables has not been investigated. It is hypothesised that, in healthy populations, negative schemas will trigger delusional thinking through the mediating influence of negative mood. The...

Social anxiety in adolescence is manifested by anxiety about and avoidance of social interactions. The present study examined whether social anxiety predicts higher levels of both rumination and co-rumination over time. Rumination and co-rumination were studied as possible outcomes because the cognitive content of these processes often involves int...

This study tested the hypothesis that adolescent-onset alcohol abuse (AOAA) would both mediate and moderate the effect of childhood conduct disorder on antisocial behaviour in late adolescence and early adulthood. A sample comprising 504 young men and women strategically recruited from the community were grouped using the criteria of the Diagnostic...

This study set out to determine the efficacy of a school-based early intervention program (the Kiwi ACE program) with Māori and Pacific adolescents experiencing depressive symptoms. A large group (N = 419) of Māori and Pacific students (average age 14 years) was screened for depressive symptoms and, from a pool of students scoring greater than 63 o...

In this study, the authors tested four cultural models—independence, interdependence, conflict, and integration—that describe the hypothesized relationships between dimensions of self-construal and components of subjective well-being among individualistic and collectivistic countries. Collectivistic countries that have undergone rapid socioeconomic...

This research examined the longitudinal links between perceptions of family rituals, family cohesion, and adolescents' well-being in 713 adolescent-parent/caregiver dyads in New Zealand. Parents (86% mothers) assessed family ritual meaning and family cohesion, and adolescents (10 to 16 years old at Time 1) reported on family cohesion and well-being...

This study examined whether fine motor skills were related to the initial scores and growth rate of mathematics achievement in American kindergartners and first graders. Participants were 244 East Asian American and 9,816 European American children from the US-based Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-K). To control sampling bias, two subsampl...

The present study examined the longitudinal links between perceptions of family connectedness and body satisfaction in 1,774 (52% female) adolescents. Participants (10-15 years of age at Time 1) completed self-report measures at three measurement occasions separated by 1 year each. Mean group difference results showed that both body satisfaction le...

A scale assessing generalized false self-perceptions (Perceptions of False Self, POFS) was developed and tested across three studies involving a total of 331 adolescents (11-16 years). In Study 1, interviews were conducted to develop items for the scale. In Study 2, psychometric techniques were used to derive a scale composed of 16 items. Study 2 a...

Help-seeking is an adaptive means to address mental health difficulties, but sufferers often fail to seek assistance. This inaction may reflect optimism bias--that is, believing one is less susceptible to negative events than others. In the present study, the authors investigate optimism bias by presenting depressive symptoms in vignette form to 26...

The present research was conducted by the Centre for Applied Cross-cultural Research (CACR) in collaboration with the New Zealand Federation of Ethnic Councils (NZFEC) following a needs assessment of research priorities in the ethnic communities. Thirty-nine parents and adolescents from Asian, Middle Eastern and African backgrounds were interviewed...

A significant proportion of previous research in the occupational stress area has tended to treat the personality variable negative affectivity (NA) as a nuisance variable. This perspective has led researchers to routinely control for the effects of NA. However, P. E. Spector, D. Zapf, P. Y. Chen, and M. Frese (2000) have proposed a number of diffe...

Parents and early childhood teachers in Chinese societies and the United States have had dissimilar views about appropriate art instruction for young children. The Chinese view is that creativity will emerge after children have been taught essential drawing skills. The American view has been that children's drawing skills emerge naturally and that...