PersoNa: Personality and Mental Health in Namibia

This 2018 – 2021 Swiss National Science Foundation Project (10001C_179458), led by Amber Gayle Thalmayer with Elizabeth Shino of the University of Namibia (far left) and Sylvanus Job (Humboldt University zu Berlin, University of Namibia, center) benefitted from the collaboration of teachers ok Khoekhoegowab from throughout Namibia, pictured here.

Personality Description in African Languages

Lexical studies, based on the rationale that the most important distinctions between people will be encoded in the language, led to the advent of the popular Big Five model of personality structure. This methodology allows for the integration of results from diverse languages, but the Big Five is based almost exclusively on data from North American and Europe.

The PersoNa project supported the first lexical studies in African languages, representing the three main sub-Saharan language families.

  • Personality Structure in East and West Africa: Lexical Studies of Personality in Maa and Supyire-Senufo

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  • The Khoekhoegowab Personality Inventory: The Comparative Validity of a Locally Derived Measure of Traits

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  • Absolutism, Relativism, and Universalism in Personality Traits Across Cultures: The Case of the Big Five

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Mental Health in Namibia

A similar quantitative and qualitative balance was brought to studies on mental health. Mr. Paulus Mwetulundila, University of Namibia, and Ms. Mathilda Maletsky, General Accounting Office of Namibia) supported planning. Over 2,000 participants were recruited and completed the survey with research assistants working in English in Windhoek (on left) and in Oshiwambo (N. Namibia, right).

Windhoek based, English language team of Masters-level psychologists

Oshiwambo team in Oshikati, Northern Namibia

  • Religious engagement: Translation of the Duke Religion Index into 20 languages and validation across 27 nations

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  • Still Standing Inside: A Khoekhoe idiom related to trauma sequelae

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  • The International Mental Health Assessment. Development of the inventory used in the study

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  • Becoming an Ovambo Adult: Interviews with 50 young Oshiwambo speakers

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Interview in Namibia 2020, with Sylvanus Job in person and Amber Gayle Thalmayer over video call

2019 break at Fish River Canyon during survey collection journey: Gayoung Son, intern from University of Basel; Sylvanus Job; Amber Gayle Thalmayer; driver Gotthy King Tsuemb of Windhoek