O C Robinson
Biographic Data
| ID | 70569 |
|---|---|
| NAME | O C Robinson |
| GIVEN NAMES | O C |
| FAMILY NAME | Robinson |
| SIGNATURE | ROBINSON O C |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Greenwich |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6758-2223 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 30 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 298 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 30 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Quarter-life Crisis Episodes in Emerging Adulthood
Developmental crisis episodes that occur during emerging adulthood, also known as quarter-life crises, are emotionally unstable times of transition that typically last around a year or two. This study aims to expand the cross-cultural focus on this topic, by assessing prevalence and brief written descriptions of early adult crisis in 18–29-year-olds from eight countries (UK, Greece, Czechia, Turkey, India, Pakistan, Indonesia and Brazil), with a …
Deductive qualitative research
An investigation into the varieties of extended difficulties following psychedelic drug use
Psychedelic drugs show promising therapeutic potential; however, some users experience extended difficulties following their use. This study investigated the prevalence, severity, duration, and associated coping strategies of post-psychedelic difficulties. We conducted an online survey of 159 participants, all of whom reported experiencing difficulties lasting more than one day after psychedelic use within the past 2-10 years. Participants rated …
Experiences of moving an older parent into a care home or nursing home in the UK
The study explored the personal experiences of individuals making the decision to move an older parent into a residential care facility via retrospective narrative. It aimed to gain an understanding of how individuals experienced this transition, the emotions they felt at specific moments throughout the transition, and the perceived effect it had on their psychological wellbeing. 13 semi-structured video interviews were conducted online with indi…
Smokable "Vine of the Dead"
Introduction: Virtually no studies have looked at psychopharmacological combinations as models of the near-death experience (NDE), which is inadequate given the evidently complex neurochemistry occurring near- or at death. An example of such a combination is "changa," a smoked mixture of the psychedelic N,N-DMT and monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI)-containing plants, and as such has been referred to as "smokable ayahuasca" (vine of the dead). On…
The perceived link between dreams and the spiritual life
Despite recent gains in the understanding of dreams and their meaning, the topic of dreams in relation to spirituality has remained largely unexplored. This study investigates the perceived relationship between dreams and the spiritual life in a multi-national sample. It explores the proposition that dreams contain spiritual messages or realisations, and/or whether experiences of apparently paranormal phenomena in dreams inform a spiritual worldv…
Probing in qualitative research interviews
The effective use of probing in research interviews is central to eliciting rich, deep data from participants. Probing achieves access to this extra level of detail and depth via verbal prompts to clarify, elaborate, illustrate or explain a prior answer to an interview question that the participant has already given. This article presents a four-part theoretical framework of narrative theory, self-disclosure theory, autobiographical memory theory…
Commentary
Conducting thematic analysis on brief texts
In this article I present a structured approach to thematic analysis that is designed for working with brief texts. It is grounded in both the ecumenical thematic analysis of Boyatzis and the reflexive thematic analysis of Braun and Clarke. The process of structured tabular TA (ST-TA) is best conducted in spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel. As with other forms of thematic analysis, it permits inductive, deductive or hybrid approaches to…
Attributes and person types admired by Greek emerging adults
Admiration is a social emotion that has implications for behavior, such as leading to a desire to emulate the admired person. This study extends previous findings about admired attributes among emerging adults, by investigating the same topic in Greece and also exploring the relationship between admired person types and admired qualities, gender, and socio-economic status. A total of 198 participants aged 18 to 25 (mean age = 19.46 years; 50% wom…
Evaluating the REP-S brief resilience intervention for students in higher education
There is currently an unmet need in higher education for a structured, pre-emptive programme of support to help students enhance their resilience to stress. This article presents a mixed-methods evaluation of a transferable biopsychosocial resilience intervention for students – the Resilience Enhancement Programme for Students (REP-S). In Study 1, a randomised control trial showed that participating in the intervention was associated with signifi…
A dialectical approach to understanding the relationship between science and spirituality
The MODI model is a dialectical way of comprehending the complementary relationship between science and spirituality. The model is founded on the notion that science and spirituality are domains of enquiry that both exemplify the values of modernity: open and embodied enquiry; the questioning of authority; and empowerment of the individual. The model captures the difference between science and spirituality by way of seven conceptual polarities: o…
Special Report
Funded by the European Commission Horizon2020 programme, the Lifepath research consortium aimed to understand the impacts of socioeconomic inequalities on the biology of healthy ageing. The main research questions included the impact of inequalities on health, the role of behavioural and other risk factors, the underlying biological mechanisms, the efficacy of selected policies, and the general implications of our findings for theories and polici…
Personality change goals and plans as predictors of longitudinal trait change in young adults
Rethinking adult development
This is the introduction for the special issue of American Psychologist titled "Rethinking Adult Development: New Ideas for New Times." It highlights the main themes of the special issue and discusses the implications of current trends for future directions. Entry to adult family and work roles now comes later than ever before. More adults than in the past remain single, or coupled but "child-free," and fertility rates have declined, so that cari…
Age and Cultural Gender Equality as Moderators of the Gender Difference in the Importance of Religion and Spirituality
A range of research studies has found that women report greater importance of religion and spirituality in their lives than men do. This study extends the literature on this phenomenon, and the theories that aim to explain it, by looking at whether gender differences in the three European countries (the United Kingdom, France, and Germany) differ by adult age group (young adults 18-39, midlifers 40-59, and older adults 60+), and by the cultural g…
A Longitudinal Mixed-Methods Case Study of Quarter-Life Crisis During the Post-university Transition
Research on crisis episodes during the first decade of adult life suggests two types of such “quarter-life” crisis exist: locked-in and locked-out. Both relate conceptually to the transition out of emerging adulthood. A female case study was studied over a 4-year period, starting when she left university. Well-being and depression data were gathered 5 times, two interviews were conducted, as well as a structured e-mail exchange. Results showed tw…
Socioeconomic status and the 25 × 25 risk factors as determinants of premature mortality
Intrapersonal curiosity
Intrapersonal Curiosity (InC) involves inquisitively introspecting to better understand one’s inner self. A pool of 39 face-valid InC items was administered to 1005 participants, along with other curiosity, personality, self-awareness, self-regulation, and psychological well-being scales. Three InC factors with good model fit were identified, from which four-item (α ≥ .89) subscales were developed: “Understanding one’s Emotions and Motives,” “Ref…
Four Functional Roles for Case Studies in Emerging Adulthood Research
Case studies have four functional roles which, if more widely embraced, can help to advance theory and methodology in the study of emerging adults. These functions are case-based theory development, individual-level prediction testing, theory exemplification, and idiographic psychobiography. We describe these functions and provide real and hypothetical examples of each one. We also discuss specifiability - the capacity of a theory to make predict…
Figures of Admiration in Emerging Adulthood
Admiration is a social emotion that is developmentally formative in emerging adulthood; admired adults act as mentors, role models, and sources of inspiration to this age-group. The present study explored who and what emerging adults admire in their elders, across four countries (UK, Iran, China, and Russia). A total of 525 participants provided written descriptions of an admired figure. Across all cultures, care and generativity was the most com…
Goals and plans for Big Five personality trait change in young adults
Wellbeing in retirement villages
Person, Persona, and Personality Modification
Quantitative and qualitative methods can work productively together to explore the conundrum of personality. In this study, a personality questionnaire tool (TIPI-3C) was used to screen for participants with high levels of personality variability across three social contexts. One hundred and twelve participants completed the questionnaire, which assesses the Big-Five traits as they manifest when with parents, friends, and work colleagues. Eight p…
Sampling in Interview-Based Qualitative Research
Sampling is central to the practice of qualitative methods, but compared with data collection and analysis its processes have been discussed relatively little. A four-point approach to sampling in qualitative interview-based research is presented and critically discussed in this article, which integrates theory and process for the following: (1) defining a sample universe, by way of specifying inclusion and exclusion criteria for potential partic…
Sampling in Interview-Based Qualitative Research
Sampling is central to the practice of qualitative methods, but compared with data collection and analysis its processes have been discussed relatively little. A four-point approach to sampling in qualitative interview-based research is presented and critically discussed in this article, which integrates theory and process for the following: (1) defining a sample universe, by way of specifying inclusion and exclusion criteria for potential partic…
Probing in qualitative research interviews
The effective use of probing in research interviews is central to eliciting rich, deep data from participants. Probing achieves access to this extra level of detail and depth via verbal prompts to clarify, elaborate, illustrate or explain a prior answer to an interview question that the participant has already given. This article presents a four-part theoretical framework of narrative theory, self-disclosure theory, autobiographical memory theory…
Age and Cultural Gender Equality as Moderators of the Gender Difference in the Importance of Religion and Spirituality
A range of research studies has found that women report greater importance of religion and spirituality in their lives than men do. This study extends the literature on this phenomenon, and the theories that aim to explain it, by looking at whether gender differences in the three European countries (the United Kingdom, France, and Germany) differ by adult age group (young adults 18-39, midlifers 40-59, and older adults 60+), and by the cultural g…
Goals and plans for Big Five personality trait change in young adults
Authenticity, Social Context, and Well-Being in the United States, England, and Russia
The study investigated interrelationships among trait authenticity, context-specific authenticity, and well-being in three samples drawn from England, the United States, and Russia. Six hundred and twenty-eight adults participated: 196 from the United States, 240 from England, and 192 from Russia. The overall sample consisted of 151 men and 477 women with a mean age of 27 years (range = 18 to 56). Authenticity was rated both as a general trait an…
Intrinsic aspirations and personal meaning across adulthood
The present study examined adult age and sex differences in self-reported aspirations and personal meaning. Young, midlife, and older adults (N = 2,557) from the United Kingdom or United States completed an online survey of their aspiration striving, aspiration importance, and personal meaning (subscales of Purposeful Life, Exciting Life, Accomplished Life, Principled Life, Valued Life). Predictions were made in line with humanistic and gerontolo…
Rethinking adult development
This is the introduction for the special issue of American Psychologist titled "Rethinking Adult Development: New Ideas for New Times." It highlights the main themes of the special issue and discusses the implications of current trends for future directions. Entry to adult family and work roles now comes later than ever before. More adults than in the past remain single, or coupled but "child-free," and fertility rates have declined, so that cari…
Investigating the Form and Dynamics of Crisis Episodes in Early Adulthood
This study investigates the experiences and processes that characterise crisis episodes occurring between the ages of 25 and 40. The methodology is a composite of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith & Eatough 2006 Smith, JA and Eatough, V. 2006. “Interpretative phenomenological analysis”. In Research methods in psychology, 3rd, Edited by: Breakwell, GM, Hammond, S, Fife–Schaw, C and Smith, JA. 322–41. London: Sage. [Google Scholar]) a…
An investigation into the varieties of extended difficulties following psychedelic drug use
Psychedelic drugs show promising therapeutic potential; however, some users experience extended difficulties following their use. This study investigated the prevalence, severity, duration, and associated coping strategies of post-psychedelic difficulties. We conducted an online survey of 159 participants, all of whom reported experiencing difficulties lasting more than one day after psychedelic use within the past 2-10 years. Participants rated …
Wellbeing in retirement villages
Personality change goals and plans as predictors of longitudinal trait change in young adults
Relational Analysis
The innovation of “add-on” techniques to supplement existing qualitative methods can be seen as part of a move towards a pluralist, eclectic qualitative psychology. This article presents such a technique, termed Relational Analysis, which can be used to help explore the full spectrum of possible relationships between analytical themes within qualitative data. To this end it employs 10 “key relational forms” (KRFs), all of which can act as meaning…
The stormy search for self in early adulthood
This qualitative study investigated episodes of early adult crises and the impact of these on identity development. Six individuals were interviewed twice about an experience of formative crisis between the ages of 25 and 40. Results showed a common dynamic starting with a precrisis conformist persona, and an identity correspondingly divided into inner (true) and outer (false). Over the course of a stressful life transition, the person separates …
Investigating the Form and Dynamics of Crisis Episodes in Early Adulthood
This study investigates the experiences and processes that characterise crisis episodes occurring between the ages of 25 and 40. The methodology is a composite of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith & Eatough 2006 Smith, JA and Eatough, V. 2006. “Interpretative phenomenological analysis”. In Research methods in psychology, 3rd, Edited by: Breakwell, GM, Hammond, S, Fife–Schaw, C and Smith, JA. 322–41. London: Sage. [Google Scholar]) a…
Relational Analysis
The innovation of “add-on” techniques to supplement existing qualitative methods can be seen as part of a move towards a pluralist, eclectic qualitative psychology. This article presents such a technique, termed Relational Analysis, which can be used to help explore the full spectrum of possible relationships between analytical themes within qualitative data. To this end it employs 10 “key relational forms” (KRFs), all of which can act as meaning…
Person, Persona, and Personality Modification
Quantitative and qualitative methods can work productively together to explore the conundrum of personality. In this study, a personality questionnaire tool (TIPI-3C) was used to screen for participants with high levels of personality variability across three social contexts. One hundred and twelve participants completed the questionnaire, which assesses the Big-Five traits as they manifest when with parents, friends, and work colleagues. Eight p…
Sampling in Interview-Based Qualitative Research
Sampling is central to the practice of qualitative methods, but compared with data collection and analysis its processes have been discussed relatively little. A four-point approach to sampling in qualitative interview-based research is presented and critically discussed in this article, which integrates theory and process for the following: (1) defining a sample universe, by way of specifying inclusion and exclusion criteria for potential partic…
Intrinsic aspirations and personal meaning across adulthood
The present study examined adult age and sex differences in self-reported aspirations and personal meaning. Young, midlife, and older adults (N = 2,557) from the United Kingdom or United States completed an online survey of their aspiration striving, aspiration importance, and personal meaning (subscales of Purposeful Life, Exciting Life, Accomplished Life, Principled Life, Valued Life). Predictions were made in line with humanistic and gerontolo…
Authenticity, Social Context, and Well-Being in the United States, England, and Russia
The study investigated interrelationships among trait authenticity, context-specific authenticity, and well-being in three samples drawn from England, the United States, and Russia. Six hundred and twenty-eight adults participated: 196 from the United States, 240 from England, and 192 from Russia. The overall sample consisted of 151 men and 477 women with a mean age of 27 years (range = 18 to 56). Authenticity was rated both as a general trait an…
Wellbeing in retirement villages
Four Functional Roles for Case Studies in Emerging Adulthood Research
Case studies have four functional roles which, if more widely embraced, can help to advance theory and methodology in the study of emerging adults. These functions are case-based theory development, individual-level prediction testing, theory exemplification, and idiographic psychobiography. We describe these functions and provide real and hypothetical examples of each one. We also discuss specifiability - the capacity of a theory to make predict…
Figures of Admiration in Emerging Adulthood
Admiration is a social emotion that is developmentally formative in emerging adulthood; admired adults act as mentors, role models, and sources of inspiration to this age-group. The present study explored who and what emerging adults admire in their elders, across four countries (UK, Iran, China, and Russia). A total of 525 participants provided written descriptions of an admired figure. Across all cultures, care and generativity was the most com…
Goals and plans for Big Five personality trait change in young adults
Intrapersonal curiosity
Intrapersonal Curiosity (InC) involves inquisitively introspecting to better understand one’s inner self. A pool of 39 face-valid InC items was administered to 1005 participants, along with other curiosity, personality, self-awareness, self-regulation, and psychological well-being scales. Three InC factors with good model fit were identified, from which four-item (α ≥ .89) subscales were developed: “Understanding one’s Emotions and Motives,” “Ref…
Socioeconomic status and the 25 × 25 risk factors as determinants of premature mortality
A Longitudinal Mixed-Methods Case Study of Quarter-Life Crisis During the Post-university Transition
Research on crisis episodes during the first decade of adult life suggests two types of such “quarter-life” crisis exist: locked-in and locked-out. Both relate conceptually to the transition out of emerging adulthood. A female case study was studied over a 4-year period, starting when she left university. Well-being and depression data were gathered 5 times, two interviews were conducted, as well as a structured e-mail exchange. Results showed tw…
Age and Cultural Gender Equality as Moderators of the Gender Difference in the Importance of Religion and Spirituality
A range of research studies has found that women report greater importance of religion and spirituality in their lives than men do. This study extends the literature on this phenomenon, and the theories that aim to explain it, by looking at whether gender differences in the three European countries (the United Kingdom, France, and Germany) differ by adult age group (young adults 18-39, midlifers 40-59, and older adults 60+), and by the cultural g…
A dialectical approach to understanding the relationship between science and spirituality
The MODI model is a dialectical way of comprehending the complementary relationship between science and spirituality. The model is founded on the notion that science and spirituality are domains of enquiry that both exemplify the values of modernity: open and embodied enquiry; the questioning of authority; and empowerment of the individual. The model captures the difference between science and spirituality by way of seven conceptual polarities: o…
Special Report
Funded by the European Commission Horizon2020 programme, the Lifepath research consortium aimed to understand the impacts of socioeconomic inequalities on the biology of healthy ageing. The main research questions included the impact of inequalities on health, the role of behavioural and other risk factors, the underlying biological mechanisms, the efficacy of selected policies, and the general implications of our findings for theories and polici…
Personality change goals and plans as predictors of longitudinal trait change in young adults
Rethinking adult development
This is the introduction for the special issue of American Psychologist titled "Rethinking Adult Development: New Ideas for New Times." It highlights the main themes of the special issue and discusses the implications of current trends for future directions. Entry to adult family and work roles now comes later than ever before. More adults than in the past remain single, or coupled but "child-free," and fertility rates have declined, so that cari…
Evaluating the REP-S brief resilience intervention for students in higher education
There is currently an unmet need in higher education for a structured, pre-emptive programme of support to help students enhance their resilience to stress. This article presents a mixed-methods evaluation of a transferable biopsychosocial resilience intervention for students – the Resilience Enhancement Programme for Students (REP-S). In Study 1, a randomised control trial showed that participating in the intervention was associated with signifi…
Commentary
Conducting thematic analysis on brief texts
In this article I present a structured approach to thematic analysis that is designed for working with brief texts. It is grounded in both the ecumenical thematic analysis of Boyatzis and the reflexive thematic analysis of Braun and Clarke. The process of structured tabular TA (ST-TA) is best conducted in spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel. As with other forms of thematic analysis, it permits inductive, deductive or hybrid approaches to…
Attributes and person types admired by Greek emerging adults
Admiration is a social emotion that has implications for behavior, such as leading to a desire to emulate the admired person. This study extends previous findings about admired attributes among emerging adults, by investigating the same topic in Greece and also exploring the relationship between admired person types and admired qualities, gender, and socio-economic status. A total of 198 participants aged 18 to 25 (mean age = 19.46 years; 50% wom…
The perceived link between dreams and the spiritual life
Despite recent gains in the understanding of dreams and their meaning, the topic of dreams in relation to spirituality has remained largely unexplored. This study investigates the perceived relationship between dreams and the spiritual life in a multi-national sample. It explores the proposition that dreams contain spiritual messages or realisations, and/or whether experiences of apparently paranormal phenomena in dreams inform a spiritual worldv…
Probing in qualitative research interviews
The effective use of probing in research interviews is central to eliciting rich, deep data from participants. Probing achieves access to this extra level of detail and depth via verbal prompts to clarify, elaborate, illustrate or explain a prior answer to an interview question that the participant has already given. This article presents a four-part theoretical framework of narrative theory, self-disclosure theory, autobiographical memory theory…
Psychology (24 works) · Social Psychology (18 works) · Sociology (14 works) · Qualitative research (13 works) · Social Psychology (11 works) · Social science (9 works) · Developmental psychology (8 works) · Identity, Memory, and Therapy (8 works) · Medicine (8 works) · Political science (6 works)