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Paul Kwon

Associate Professor

Ph.D. Pennsylvania State University, 1996

 

Contact Information:
Email: kwonp@wsu.edu
Office: Johnson Tower 214
Phone: (509) 335-4633

Websites:

Personal Web Page

Classes Taught:

Psychology 350: Social Psychology
Psychology 530: Professional, Ethical, and Legal Issues 
Psychology 546: Counseling Services Practicum
Psychology 552: Diversity Issues in Psychology

Research Interests:

Etiological and Resiliency Factors in Depression
Integration of Cognitive and Psychodynamic Perspectives
Diversity Issues

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. My research approach is to examine this area with an attempt to reconcile divergent theoretical perspectives. I am empirically investigating vulnerability factors to depression from an integrative perspective, combining cognitive and psychodynamic perspectives in a logical, theoretically-based manner. In addition, I am interested in refining and broadening our understanding of how cognitive variables (e.g., hope, personal style, rumination, perfectionism) are associated with depression. Finally, I am interested in examining how resiliency variables, such as hope, can influence how individuals from stigmatized groups (such as sexual minorities and ethnic minorities) cope with environmental stressors.

Selected Publications :

Kwon, P., & Hugelshofer, D. S. (2010). The protective role of hope for lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals facing a hostile workplace climate. Journal of Gay and Lesbian Mental Health, 14, 3-18.

Olson, M. L., & Kwon, P. (2008). Brooding perfectionism: Refining the roles of rumination and perfectionism in the etiology of depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 32, 788-802.

Kwon, P., & Laurenceau, J.P. (2002). A longitudinal study of the hopelessness theory of depression: Testing the diathesis-stress model within a differential reactivity and exposure framework. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 58, 1305-1321.
 
Kwon, P. (2002). Hope, defense mechanisms, and adjustment: Implications for false hope and defensive hopelessness. Journal of Personality, 70, 63-87.
 
Kwon, P., & Lemon, K. (2000). Attributional style and defense mechanisms: A synthesis of cognitive and psychodynamic factors in depression. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 56, 723-735.