Culture and Trauma project
The Culture and Trauma project is a NHMRC-funded project which seeks to explore the influence of cultural factors on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) outcomes within Chinese Australian and European Australian populations. Some factors which we have investigated include cultural background, thinking style, and self construal. Throughout the current and previous projects, we have focused on three main facets known to a) be influenced by culture, and b) play an important role in determining PTSD outcomes - emotion regulation, appraisals, and social support. With the help of our community advisors and cross-cultural psychologists, as well as East Asian researchers on our team, we hope to deliver findings which can better inform cultural responsiveness of clinical PTSD treatment in Australia.
The Culture and Trauma Project Report is a resource for mental health practitioners, which presents insights into how culture can shape how someone regulates their emotions, perceives themselves and the world, and accesses social support after trauma. Our aim is to support practitioners in reflecting on their training and how culture shapes understandings of mental health. The report can be accessed via the link below: Culture and Trauma Project Report To cite this report: |  |
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Posters on our studies from the Culture and Trauma project
The Three Teachings of East Asia and Post-trauma Daily Adjustment  Description of the Three Teachings of East Asia can be found on our Community Engagement page | Expressive Suppression, Culture, and Post-Traumatic Stress 
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Rumination, Culture, and Post-Traumatic Stress 
| Emotion regulation in everyday life 
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How do Culture Impact Social Support and PTSD? – In Theory & In Practice
| How do Appraisals and Culture Impact PTSD?
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Social Support, Culture and Trauma – A Cross-Country Study
| Appraisals, Culture, and Post-Traumatic Stress  |
Explore publications from the Culture and Trauma project
Social Support
- Hansford, M., & Jobson, L. (2022). Sociocultural context and the posttraumatic psychological response: Considering culture, social support, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychological Trauma : Theory, Research, Practice and Policy, 14(4), 669–679. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0001009
- Hansford, M., & Jobson, L. (2021). Social Support and Self-Construal as Moderators of Lifetime Trauma Exposure on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms. Traumatology, 27(2), 205-214. https://doi.org/10.1037/trm0000281
- Jobson, L., Matharu, T. K., Kulendran, S., Sivakumar, V. D., Lee, Q. Y., Li, H., & Haque, S. (2023). Exploring the associations between social support and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder among Malaysian and Australian trauma survivors. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 14(1), 2192962. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2023.2192962
Appraisals
- Bernardi, J., & Jobson, L. (2019). Investigating the moderating role of culture on the relationship between appraisals and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. Clinical Psychological Science, 7(5), 1000–1013. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702619841886
- Bernardi, J., Engelbrecht, A., & Jobson, L. (2019). The impact of culture on cognitive appraisals: Implications for the development, maintenance, and treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder. Clinical Psychologist, 23(2), 91–102. https://doi.org/10.1111/cp.12161
- Jobson, L., Qiu, L. S., Wong, J., Li, H., Lies, J., Lau, W., Bryant, R. A., & Liddell, B. J. (2024). Cultural differences in appraisals of control and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 15(1), 2358685. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2024.2358685
- Jobson, L., Haque, S., Abdullah, S. Z., Lee, B., Li, H., Reyneke, T., Tan, B. K. W., Lau, W., & Liddell, B. (2022). Examining Cultural Differences in the Associations between Appraisals and Emotion Regulation and PostTraumatic Stress Disorder in Malaysian and Australian Trauma Survivors. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(3), 1163. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031163
- Reyneke, T., Lee, B., Li, H., Haque, S., Abdullah, S. Z., Tan, B. K. W., Liddell, B., & Jobson, L. (2023). Examining the associations between control (primary and secondary) appraisals and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in Malaysian and Australian trauma survivors. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, Article 1017566. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1017566
Emotion Regulation
- Jobson, L., Qiu, L. S., Wong, J., Li, H., Lies, J., Lau, W., Bryant, R. A., & Liddell, B. J. (2025). Cultural group and self-construal moderate the association between expressive suppression and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 38(2), 341–349. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.23113
- Lai, M., Qiu, L. S., Li, H., Liddell, B. J., Koike, A., Wong, J., Wong, J., Lies, J., Lau, W., Bryant, R. A., Jobson, L. (2025). Considering Confucian, Buddhist, and Taoist influences on daily emotion regulation and affect in Chinese Australian trauma survivors. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2025.2518813
- Li, H., Qiu, L., Wong, J., Lau, W., Bryant, R., Lies, J., Liddell, B. J., & Jobson, L. (2025). Investigating Cultural Influences on the Associations between Rumination and Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder among European Australian and Chinese Australian Trauma Survivors. Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, 100924. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadr.2025.100924
- Nagulendran, A., & Jobson, L. (2020). Exploring cultural differences in the use of emotion regulation strategies in posttraumatic stress disorder. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 11(1), 1729033. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2020.1729033
- Qiu, L. S., Liddell, B. J., Wong, J., Li, H., Lies, J., Lau, W., Bryant, R. A., & Jobson, L. (2025). Cultural influences on emotion regulation and affective outcomes among trauma survivors: An ecological momentary assessment study. Journal of Affective Disorders, 380, 637–646. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2025.03.160