Hassem, T., Laher, S., Bambo, M., Botha, C.B., Chopdat, S., Hofmann, D.., Mayet, S., Naude, L., & Thalmayer, A.G. (2026). Mental Health of Young Adults in South Africa: Evidence from the ‘Africa Long Life Study’ (ALLS). International Journal of mental health. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207411.2026.2640523

Haehner, P., Naudé, L., Hopwood, C. J., Shirima, C. M., Laher, S., Shino, E. N., Asatsa, S., Florence, M., Adonis, T.-A., Bleidorn, W., & Thalmayer, A. G. (2025). Personality trait change in three sub-Saharan countries: Normative development and life events. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000582 or Open Access

Hofmann, D., Hopwood, C.J., Laher, S., Shino, E., Asatsa, S., Naude, L., Florence, M., Thalmayer, A.G. (2025). The assessment and structure of psychopathology among young adults in southern and eastern Africa Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science. https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0001045 or Open Access

Kura, M., Rentsch, K., & Thalmayer, A. G. (2025). Big Six Personality Traits in the Africa Long Life Study. Journal of Research on Personality, 117, 104603, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2025.104603

Uugwanga, S.N., Naudé, L., & Thalmayer, A.G. (2025). Becoming an Ovambo Adult: Growing into Agentic Communalism in Sub-Saharan Africa. Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976241311920

Rotzinger, J.S., Jensen, L.A. & Thalmayer, A.G. (2025). Ubuntu in Namibia and Kenya: How emerging adults live an essential African value today. Journal of Cross Cultural Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220221241309863

Thalmayer, A. G., Maher, K. A., Saucier, G., Naudé, L., Shino, E. N., Asatsa, S., Florence, M., Witzlack-Makarevich, A., Bächlin, L. M., & Condon, D. (2024) The Cross-Cultural Big Two: A Culturally De-Centered Theoretical and Measurement Model for Personality Traits. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000528

Thalmayer, A. G., Asatsa, S., Shino, E. N., Naudé, L., Laher, S., Hassem, T., Florence, M., Adonis, T.-A., Uugwanga, S. N., Rotzinger, J. S., Hofmann, D., Makunda, J., Botha, C., Murangi, A., & Shirima, C. M. (2024). Lifespan Research in Kenya, Namibia, and South Africa: Cohort Profile of the Africa Long Life Study. Personality Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/27000710241264492

Furrer, A., Hofmann, D., & Thalmayer, A. G. (2024, April 25). Talking Mental Health with Kenyan Youth: Cognitive Interviews on the International Mental Health Assessment. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/kyb3x

Florence, M., Adonis, T., Botha, C., Mpisane, N., Thalmayer, A. G., & Naude, L. (2023). An International Longitudinal Research Project Investigating the Psychological Development of Young Adults in South Africa: Managing Attrition. https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/233600/

2026

► Society for Personality and Social Psychology Convention
Chicago, Illinois, February 26-28, 2026

2025

► Invited Panel at the Presidential Session at the 12th Conference of the Society of the Study of Emerging Adulthood (SSEA)

• “Namibia UP: Being 18 in Africa Today” 
  With Uugwanga, S., Muchiri, W. A., Naudé, L. and Adams, B. A.

• “Markers of Adulthood in sub-Saharan Africa: Contextualised Findings”
  With Uugwanga, S., & Naudé, L. 

Charleston, South Carolina, June 4-6, 2025

► Annual South African Psychology Congress “Psychology in Society and Society in Psychology” at the Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA)

• “Conceptualising Positive Youth Development in the African Context: A Systematic Review of Theory and Practice” 
  Shirima, C. M., Naudé, L., & Thalmayer, A. G. (2025).

• “Thriving to fulfilment: Positive youth development in relation to well-being in a context of emerging adults in Africa”
  Mgaya, A., Thalmayer, A. G., & Naudé, L.

• “Social well-being of young adults in Kenya, Namibia, and South Africa”
  Green, J. C., Laher, S., & Thalmayer, A. G.

Durban, South Africa. 14–16 October 2025

► Conference Presentation at the 7th Global Mental Health Summit

• “Cross-national Demographic Insights Into Anxiety Symptoms Among Young Adults in South Africa, Namibia and Kenya”
  Salmah Chopdat, Sumaya Laher, Dr Tasneem Hassem & Prof. Amber Gayle Thalmayer 

• “The Impact of Perceived Financial Status, Education and Employment Status on Anxiety Symptoms Over Time in Emerging Adults in Sub-saharan Africa”
  Roma Daya, Tasneem Hassem  & John Makunda 

• “Psychometric Evaluation of the MHC–SF in Emerging Adults in Three African Countries”
  Jessica Green, Sumaya Laher & Amber Thalmayer

• “Empowered Pathways and Shaping Futures: Exploring Individual Experiences of Personality and Well-Being in an African Context”
  Shirima, C. M., Haehner, P., Kura, M., Thalmayer, A. G., & Naudé, L. (2025).

Cape Town, 10-12 November 2025

► University of the Free State (UFS)

• South African premiere of “Namibia UP: Being 18 in Africa Today”
  Thalmayer, A. G., & Naudé, L.

Bloemfontein, South Africa, November, 2025

► Keynote talk: International Conference on Emerging Trends in Psychological Wellbeing
University of Namibia, Windhoek, October, 2025

► Invited talk: Association for Psychological Science: Challenges to developing a global psychological science
Online, October 22, 2025

► Invited talk: Healthy Longevity Innovation Days
University of Zurich, June 5, 2025 

► Invited talk: Challenges and Opportunities in Global Mental Health
Universitätsspital Basel, June 3, 2025

► Keynote: 7th Annual meeting of Society for the Cognitive Science of Culture
Zurich, April 27, 2025

► Symposium : Society for Personality and Social Psychology Convention
"Lessons from Africa: Cognition, Emotion, Values, and Intergroup Relations"
Denver, USA, February 20-22, 2025

► Invited talk: Advances in Cultural Psychology Pre-Conference of the Society of Personality and Social Psychology Meeting
Denver, February 19, 2025

2024

► Symposium: Psychological Society of South Africa’s Annual Psychology Congress
“The Africa Long Life Study: lifespan research in Kenya, Namibia and South Africa”
Johannesburg, South Africa, October, 2024

included talks:

• “The Africa Long Life Study: lifespan research in the majority world”
  Thalmayer A.G.

• “Markers of adulthood in Sub-Saharan Africa: contextualized findings”
  Uugwanga, S.N.

• “The assessment and structure of psychopathology among emerging adults in Southern and Eastern Africa ”
  Hofmann, D. and Green, J.C.

• “Contextual impacts on anxiety and wellbeing amongst emerging adults in South Africa: evidence from the ALLS study ”
  Chopdat, S.

• “Personality traits in the Africa Long Life Study: culturally-de-centered approaches for assessing individual differences in African contexts”
  Kura, M.

Other presentations:

• “Instability, possibility, and responsibility: Experiences of emerging adults in Kenya, Namibia and South Africa”
  Shirima C. M., Maso, E., Molumo, K., Sokhaya, L., Viti, Z., Thalmayer, A. G., & Naudé, L.:

• “Youth in action: Empowering and building resilient youth”
  Shirima, C. M., Naudé, L., & Thalmayer, A. G.:

► Invited roundtable: “African cultural models in psychology” Psychological Society of South Africa’s Annual Congress,
Amber Gayle Thalmayer & Sumaya Laher
Johannesburg, South Africa, October, 2024

► Keynote : IDEaS Interdisciplinary Hub for Identity Research launch
University of the Free State, South Africa, October 2024

► UMTHOMBO LECTURE SERIES speaker:
"The Africa Long Life Study: Early Results from a longitudinal Study of Personality and Mental Health Among Young Adults in Namibia, Kenya, and South Africa”.
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, October 2024

► Invited speakers, presidential symposium: European Conference on Personality, “Personality Science Around the World”
Amber Gayle Thalmayer &  Stephen Asatsa
Berlin, August, 2024

► Symposium: European Conference on Personality, Berlin
“Early Results from the Africa Long Life Study” Chaired by Amber Gayle Thalmayer & Marie Kura
Berlin, August, 2024

Included talks:

• “Introduction to the Africa Long Life Study”
  Uugwanga, S.N.

• “The HEXACO in Kenya, Namibia, and South Africa”
  Kura, M.

• “The assessment and structure of psychopathology among young adults in Namibia, Kenya, and South Africa”
  Hofmann, D.

• “Proneness to Aggress in Kenya and Namibia: The role of Culture of Honor Logic among Young Adults from diverse groups”
  Asatsa, S.

► Poster award winner: Masterstudierenden- und Doktorierenden-Kongress “The structure of psychopathology in Namibia, Kenya and South Africa is almost the same
Daniel Hofmann
University of Zurich, May, 2024

► Invited talk: Conference on The Role of Culture in the Exploration of Post-Trauma Suffering, “Emic and Etic Approaches to Assess Trauma Related Symptoms in Namibia, South Africa, and Kenya”
Amber Gayle Thalmayer & Daniel Hofmann
Collegium Helveticum, Zurich, April 23–24, 2024

► Symposium talk: “Advances in Cultural Psychology beyond the West” at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, "The Africa Long Life Study: Cohort Description and Preliminary Findings”
San DiegoFebruary, 2024

2023

► Symposium: 27th Annual South African Psychology Congress,
"The Africa Long Life Study: An African-centered exploration of the mental health and wellbeing of emerging adults."
Chaired by Luzelle Naudé
Johannesburg, October 2023

► Presentation: Regional European Conference of the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP),
“Ubuntu/harambee among emerging adults in Namibia and Kenya”
Julia Rotzinger
Limerick, Ireland, August 4, 2023

► Early Career Award Talk: Association for Research in Personality annual meeting
"Including the Majority World in Lifespan Research: The Africa Long Life Study.”
Chicago, July 21, 2023  

► Keynote talk:  17. Arbeitstagung der Fachgruppe Differentielle Psychologie, Persönlichkeitspsychologie und Psychologische Diagnostik (DPPD) in der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Psychologie
“Psychological assessment in the majority world”
Salzburg, September 2022

► Presentations: Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood 11TH Conference

Emerging Adulthood in sub-Saharan Africa: An insight into Namibia, Kenya, and South Africa, "Becoming an Adult in Namibia: An emerging adult perspective among the Owambo ethnicity”
Emerging Scholars Work-in-Progress pre-conference workshop, "Markers of Adulthood in Sub-Saharan Africa: contextualized findings”
Selma Uugwanga
San Diego, USA, June, 2023

► Keynote talk: Evolutionary Psychiatry: From Theory to Therapy' mini-symposium
"Assessing Personality and Mental Health in Sub-Saharan Africa: Etc and epic approaches for comparison and contextualisation”
University of Zürich, May 15, 2023

2022

► Poster presented at the Swiss Psychological Society Conference, University of Zurich, Switzerland
“Ubuntu/botho: A qualitative exploration in Namibia, Kenya, and South Africa”
Julia Rotzinger
September 2022

► Talk given at the Swiss Psychological Society Conference, University of Zurich, Switzerland
“Mental health and religious and spiritual protective factors in Namibia, Kenya and South Africa”
Daniel Hofmann
September 2022

PHD student, Jessica Green (in progress): Reliability and Validity of the Mental Health Continuum–Short Form (MHC–SF) in emerging adults in three African countries.

Daniel Hofmann, University of Zurich, “Making Global Mental Health More Global: The Structure of Psychopathology and Local Protective Factors in Kenya, Namibia and South Africa” 
defended August 12, 2025

Julia Rotzinger, University of Zurich, “African Perspectives in Psychology and the Importance of Culturally Relevant Research”
defended February 27, 2025

Athumani Mgaya, University of the Free State, “Being well: Positive youth development towards well-being among African emerging adults.”
defended 2025

Matsidiso Bambo (UFS 2025): “Demographic questionnaire, Duke University Religion Index (DUREL), Family Affluence Scale (FAS), and the International Mental Health Assessment (IMHA) depression subscale”.

Saffiya Mayet (UFS 2025) “Demographic Profiling of South African Young Adults in Relation to Post-Traumatic Stress Symptomatology”.

Kutloano Molumo (UFS 2025) “Locked-in/Locked-out: The experiences of African emerging adults in facing critical life events”

Zandile Viti (UFS 2025) “Balancing risk and resilience: Emerging into adulthood in African contexts”

Rachel Moffat (UFS 2025) “The relationship between the dimensions of emerging adulthood and satisfaction with life in Sub-Saharan Africa”

Simona Egli (UZH 2025) “Motivations for Alcohol Use in Namibia”

Lena Lüscher (UZH 2025) “Differential Item and Step Functioning in the International Mental Health Assessment in Kenya, Namibia and South Africa”

Dora Jurcevic (UZH 2025) “Prevalence, risk and protective factors of mental health among young adults in Sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review”

Sofie Kunzle (UZH 2025) “Assessing Negative Emotionality in Sub-Saharan Africa”

Erica Mae Lavilla (UZH 2025), “Idioms of distress in psychological assessment in Sub-Saharan Africa”  

Sanaa Bladh (UZH 2024), “Relational Mobility in Sub-Saharan Africa”

Pascale Rouilly (UZH 2024)"Higher Education and Career Plans Among Young Namibian Adults: Exploring the Unique Shape of Emerging Adulthood"

Michelle Rahm (UZH 2024), "Gender Differences in Mental Health in Sub-Saharan Africa: Prevalence and Development among Young Adults in Kenya, Namibia and South Africa"

Lia Jenal (UZH 2024), "Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood in Namibia: Individual Development through Communal Values"

John Makunda (The Catholic University of Eastern Africa, 2024), "Unveiling Longitudinal Patterns in International Mental Health Assessments: A Systematic Evaluation of Clustering Techniques."
Supervisors: Hellen Waititu & Cornelius Nyakundi.

Matsidiso Bambo (University of the Witwatersrand 2024), “Depression Demographic Profiling of Young Adults in South Africa.” Supervisor: Tasneem Hassem.

Elena Orsi (UZH 2024), “The Ethics of Autonomy, Community, and Divinity in Namibian Youth: An Examination of Guiding Moral Values and the Impact of Globalization.” Supervisors: Lene Arnett Jensen & Amber Gayle Thalmayer.

Franka Schneider (UZH 2023), “Ubuntu/Harambee: A qualitative exploration in Namibia. Reflection of Ubuntu/Harambee in young adults' lives.” Supervisors: Julia Rotzinger & Amber Gayle Thalmayer.

David Schröder (UZH 2023), “Socio-economic status and mental health in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Supervisors: Julia Rotzinger & Amber Gayle Thalmayer.

Lilly Schmidt-Tophoff (UZH 2023), “The Role of Religiosity in the Mental Health Among 18-Year-Olds in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Supervisors: Daniel Hofmann & Amber Gayle Thalmayer.

Myrjam Suter (UZH 2023), “Markers of Adulthood of Emerging Adults in Namibia: Psychometric Testing, Endorsement, and Attainment of the Markers of Adulthood (MoA) Scale.” Supervisors: Selma Uugwanga & Amber Gayle Thalmayer.

William Viella Martins (University of Bern 2023), "A cross-culturally convergent personality model of three dimensions." Supervisors: Amber Gayle Thalmayer & Stephen Troche.

Aleyna Ekinci (UZH 2022), “The experience of ‘pain in the heart’ and its relations to major depressive disorder.” Supervisors: Daniel Hofmann & Amber Gayle Thalmayer.

Christoph Flückinger (UZH 2022), “Motivations for alcohol consumption among young adults in Namibia - A comparison across Oshiwambo speakers.” Supervisors: Selma Uugwanga & Amber Gayle Thalmayer.

Gayong Son (Universität Basel 2022), “Measurement Invariance of the Satisfaction with Life Scale in Three Languages of Namibia.” Supervisors: Amber Gayle Thalmayer & Roselind Lieb.

Milena Claudius (Universität Bern 2022), “Still Standing Inside: Local Idioms of Trauma among Namibian Speakers of Khoekhoegowab.” Supervisors: Amber Gayle Thalmayer & Thomas Berger.