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With the group "Personality, mental health and culture" you can choose either a single topic or a topic area from which a specific topic will be developed. If you are interested, please contact the indicated (co-)supervisor. In addition to a brief CV, please include an approximately one-page letter of motivation with your application for a master's thesis, explaining why you wish to work on this topic. The master thesis may only be booked after consultation with the (co-)supervisor. It is recommended to book the master thesis parallel to the research colloquium 2. In der folgenden Übersicht finden Sie Themenbereiche, Einzelthemen und ev. extern betreute Einzelthemen vor. Bei Interesse wenden Sie sich bitte an eine der genannten Kontaktpersonen. (Bitte fügen Sie Ihrer Bewerbung für eine Masterarbeit neben einem kurzen Lebenslauf auch ein ca. einseitiges Motivationsschreiben bei, in welchem Sie erklären, warum Sie sich für das Forschungsprojekt bewerben) |
Durch Klick auf die einzelnen Themen werden die Detail-Informationen angezeigt.
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Beschreibung: The impact of cultural context on psychology and health is increasingly recognized, and psychological studies ideally include adequate description of participant socio-demographic characteristics to understand the potential role of background and context on the variables of interest. The great diversity of Sub-Saharan Africa, however, has not yet been well quantified for explanation in psychological studies. In addition to 2,000 language groups, Sub-Saharan Africa is home to communities living traditionally as hunter-gatherers, subsistence farmers, or pastoralists, as well as to giant urban centers that in turn range from luxury to slums. The region has seen many economic and political changes in the last decades, including increased market integration, rural-urban migration and access to education, as well as the highest income inequality in the world. Individual lives may be dynamic and include mixtures of rural and urban, traditional and globalized elements. This thesis project will seek ways to better quantify, describe, and understand lifestyle differences relevant to psychology among the Africa Long Life Study participants, young adults from throughout Namibia, Kenya and/or South Africa. Specifically, the thesis will explore the concepts of ?market integration? (food sources while growing upo f how) and urbanicity as well as other complementary ways to explore and describe the diversity of the sample, including exploration in data and literature as to how these may relate to psychological factors, e.g. mental health and life satisfaction.
Novak NL, Allender S, Scarborough P, West D. The development and validation of an urbanicity scale in a multi-country study. BMC Public Health. 2012 Jul 20;12:530. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-12-530. PMID: 22818019; PMCID: PMC3554435
Kontakt: Selma Uugwanga, E-Mail
Beschreibung: Euro-centric psychiatric conceptualizations of psychopathology often ignore the interplay of local and human-universal factors in psychological suffering. Emic, locally focused, perspectives can enrich etic, imported, models to better elucidate the role of culture in mental illness and ultimately help provide culturally-sensitive care. The objective of this thesis is to enhance the cultural sensitivity of grief diagnostics by integrating indigenous expressions of grief. By linking a traditional Khoekhoe idiom of distress with contemporary diagnostic criteria, this research aims to help develop a more inclusive view of mental health. Specifically, the aim of this master thesis is to investigate the relationship between the Khoekhoe idiom of distress, "pain in the heart," with the International Classification of Diseases, 11th Revision (ICD-11) diagnosis of Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) in a Namibian sample using network analysis.
Kontakt: Daniel Hofmann, E-Mail
Beschreibung: This thesis will focus on the personality trait of neuroticism vs. emotional stability, and how to best conceptualize and assess it in African contexts. Data will come from the Africa Long Life Study, a longitudinal study of emerging adults (ages 18 to 25) in Namibia, Kenya, and South Africa. The project will include literature review and potentially discussions with African psychologists and research assistants to consider local views on the trait and how this compares to the Big Five trait. It will include psychometric exploration, possibly including testing for measurement invariance across the three contexts, and tests of convergent and divergent validity with constructs such as psychological disorder symptoms, satisfaction with life, other personality traits, and life outcomes.
Kontakt: Daniel Hofmann, E-Mail
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