Lessons learned from conducting a study of emotions and positive personality change in Syrian origin young adults who have recently resettled in the Netherlands

J.M. Chung*, L. Meijer, R. Zonneveld, A.S. Zeina, K. Alajak, N. Moopen, H.F. Rahim, L. Çiftçi, E. Alisic, J. Stellar, G.T.M. Mooren, M.J.T. Sleijpen, T. Tesanovic, H. al Baker, R. Dali, M. Papadantonaki, N. Papakosta, M. Antink, S. Charisopoulou, M. FrensS. O'Connor, D. Tasfiliz, O.M. Laceulle

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Post-traumatic growth is a compelling idea, yet extant research has often employed retrospective reports of change, rather than examining change over time. Research on samples of people that are traditionally seen as hard-to-reach are rare within personality psychology. In Karakter, we assessed a sample of Syrian origin young adults who recently resettled in the Netherlands (initial N = 168) four times over a 13-month period to examine experiences of adversity, emotions, and positive personality change. Here, we provide a detailed narrative of the research process, beginning with a description of how we incorporated open science practices in Karakter. We then turn to a discussion of the changes, challenges, and opportunities we encountered in the research. In doing so, we discuss conceptual and methodological considerations when examining personality change. We close with suggestions for researchers who are interested in conducting similar studies with populations that are underrecruited in the future
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)665-682
Number of pages18
JournalEuropean Journal of Personality
Volume36
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research was supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation’s Pathways to Character Initiative awarded to Joanne M. Chung and Odilia M. Laceulle.

Funding Information:
We are especially grateful to all of the people who participated in the Karakter project. We thank Eranda Jayawickreme, Frank Infurna, the members of the John Templeton Foundation’s Pathways to Character Initiative (Laura Blackie, Elaine Cheung, William Chopik, Marie Forgeard, Igor Grossmann, Aaron Heller, Rich Lucas, Maike Luhmann, Gloria Luong, Kate McLean, Patricia Moreno, and Rebecca White), and Rich Bollinger for their support throughout this project. We also thank the narratives coding and rating team (Mariam Fishere, Tilmann Habermas, Shahed Al Asmi, Karen El-Kadri, Alisar Abdel Rahman, Tarek Nouneh, Sarah Hamzah, Shams Al-Badri, and Celine El-Hert), and the EAR transcription and coding team (Shams Al-Badri, Motasem Almesri, Dima Al Habbal, Alma Natafji, Layan Nablsi, May Khaled, and Shahed Ebesh).

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2022.

Keywords

  • Syrian
  • longitudinal
  • open science
  • participatory research
  • personality change

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