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Associate Professor
Office: Johnson Tower 214 Phone:
(509) 335-4633 FAX: (509)
335-5043 E-mail:
kwonp@wsu.edu |
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Educational background Ph.D. (1996) Pennsylvania State University
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Research interests
Broadly speaking, my
major research interest is in examining how people cope with stress in their
lives, addressing the question of why some people are able to adapt to
difficult situations more easily than others. I am particularly interested
in examining how resilience variables, such as hope, can influence how
individuals from stigmatized groups (such as sexual minorities and ethnic
minorities) cope with environmental stressors. I recently developed a
theoretical framework for resilience in lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals
(Personality and Social Psychology Review,
2013 - see publications list).
I have also
investigated vulnerability factors to depression from an integrative
perspective, combining cognitive and psychodynamic perspectives in a logical,
theoretically-based manner. My work has shown that the relationship
between cognitive vulnerability factors (e.g., negative attributional style,
lack of hope) and depression is moderated by psychodynamic defense mechanisms.
In general, I am interested in refining our understanding of how variables such
as hope, rumination, perfectionism, attributional style, and defense mechanisms
are moderated or mediated by one another.
I currently serve as
an Associate Editor for Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender
Diversity, the journal for Division 44 (Society for the Psychological Study
of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues) of the American Psychological
Association.
If you are a WSU undergraduate interested in working in my research lab, please contact me to set up an appointment.
Clinical interests
- Integrative psychotherapy (emotion-focused, cognitive-interpersonal, and psychodynamic perspectives), with an emphasis on empirically-supported interventions