Invited Speaker
Dr Ben Kuo, Professor of Clinical Psychology
Collectivism’s Impact on Coping and Mental Health for Culturally and Developmentally Diverse Populations: Emerging Understanding and Implications for Interventions
Historically, psychological perspectives and approaches towards the understanding and the study of stress-coping and mental health outcomes are deeply entrenched in the Western, individualistic paradigm. However, this cultural bias towards the individual-centred, self-oriented, and intrapsychic-focused views of human stress responses and psychological health has been challenged recently by the increasing empirical and clinical evidences which point to culture’s influences on these processes. In particular, the impacts of collectivism and interdependent cultural orientation on coping and mental health have been identified and examined in recent multicultural clinical and cross-cultural research.
In this lecture, I will introduce and explore the intricate relationship between culture and coping. I will do so by highlighting conceptual and empirical evidence related to cultural diversity in coping patterns and the distinctive concept of ‘collective coping’ behaviours across cultures. Lastly, I will address the implications collectivism and collective coping behaviours hold for contemporary research, clinical interventions, and mental health services for culturally and developmentally diverse individuals and populations across the life span.