Christine Robitschek, Ph.D.

Research Interests

My research focuses on Personal Growth Initiative (PGI). Specific interests include development of PGI theory and measurement, impact of PGI on health and disorder, multicultural factors in the development and expression of PGI, and developing and testing interventions to teach PGI skills (i.e., Intentional Growth Training).

Selected Research

• Robitschek, C., & Hardin, E. E. (in press). The future of counseling psychology research viewed through the Cultural Lens Approach. Journal of Counseling Psychology.
• Shigemoto, Y., Low, B., Borowa, D., & Robitschek, C. (in press). Function of personal growth initiative on posttraumatic growth, posttraumatic stress, and depression over and above adaptive and maladaptive rumination. Journal of Clinical Psychology. doi: 10.1002/jclp.22423
• Borowa, D., Robitschek, C., Harmon, K.A., & Shigemoto, Y. (2016). Posttraumatic stress and growth in student service members and veterans: The role of personal growth initiative. Journal of American College Health, 64, 527-534. doi: 10.1080/07448481.2016.1188395
• Shigemoto, Y., Ashton, M. W., Robitschek, C. (2016). Predictors of growth in the aftermath of traumatic events: The role of personal growth initiative. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 21, 399-409. doi: 10.1080/15325024.2015.1110446
• Shigemoto, Y., Thoen, M. A., Robitschek, C., & Ashton, M. W. (2015). Assessing measurement invariance of the Personal Growth Initiative Scale-II among Hispanics, African Americans, and European Americans. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 62, 537-544. doi: 10.1037/cou0000075
• Luyckx, K., & Robitschek, C. (2014). Personal growth initiative and identity formation in adolescence through young adulthood: Mediating processes on the pathway to well-being. Journal of Adolescence, 37, 973-981. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2014.07.009
• Hardin, E. E., Robitschek, C., Flores, L. Y., Navarro, R., & Ashton, M. W. (2014). The Cultural Lens Approach to evaluating cultural validity of psychological theory. American Psychologist, 69, 656-668. doi: 10.1037/a0036532
• Thoen, M. A., & Robitschek, C. (2013). Intentional Growth Training: Developing an intervention to increase personal growth initiative. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-being, 5, 149-170. doi: 10.111/aphw.12001
• Robitschek, C., Ashton, M. W., Spering, C. C., Geiger, N., Byers, D., Schotts, G. C., & Thoen, M. (2012). Development and psychometric properties of the Personal Growth Initiative Scale – II. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 59, 274-287. doi: 10.1037/a0027310
• Weigold, I. K., & Robitschek, C. (2011). Agentic personality characteristics and coping: Their relation to trait anxiety in college students. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 81, 255-264.
• Robitschek, C., & Keyes, C. L. M. (2009). Keyes' model of mental health with personal growth initiative as a parsimonious predictor. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 56, 321-3