Jan Höltge, Phd

Biography
Since May 2024, Jan Höltge, Ph.D., has been appointed as an Assistant Professor of Research at the Resilience Research Centre, which is affiliated with the School of Social Work at Dalhousie University. His Ph.D. thesis (2015-2018) focused on the resilience and healthy aging of former indentured child laborers in Switzerland and how stressful experiences can support individual-level resilience. During his first postdoctoral scholarship (2019-2021), he studied the underlying multisystemic mechanisms of resilience in youth impacted by volatile industries in Canada and South Africa. During his second postdoctoral scholarship (2022-2023), he studied the resilience of Native Hawaiian youths and adults in the context of their past and ongoing colonization.

Today, his critical, participatory, multidisciplinary, mixed-method research follows a multisystemic understanding of youth resilience to support the comprehensive well-being of youth when faced with adversity. Thus, in contrast to mainstream resilience research, Dr. Höltge emphasizes and studies the role of the environment for holistic youth resilience. Following a space-based and population approach to resilience, he wants to create communities where multiple dimensions of well-being and development are protected and promoted in all youth. Also, Dr. Höltge is at the forefront of studying resilience with a systemic perspective by researching how different resource systems, such as biological, psychological, social, institutional, and ecological systems, work together to foster youth resilience. Dr. Höltge has advanced knowledge in statistical analysis methods to study what works for whom under which circumstances via mixture modelling and decision tree methodology, and to study reciprocal relationships and interdependencies via network analysis and cross-lagged panel modelling.

Dr. Höltge always welcomes new collaborations that aim to build a world where children and youth can holistically thrive, no matter who they are and what they face.

Website
www.resilienceresearch.org

Publications
Thoma, M. V., Bernays, F., Fuhrer, J., Höltge, J., Salas Castillo, A. N., & Rohner, S. L. (2024). Intraindividual change of satisfaction with life over the course of COVID-19: differential connections between protective resources in Swiss older adults depending on their risk of exposure to early-life adversity. Journal of Happiness Studies, 25(73). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-024-00791-2

Thoma, M. V., Balsiger, S.-V., Höltge, J., & Rohner, S. L. (2024). Investigating stress sensitization and steeling for early-life adversity and recent stressful life experiences: Health and illness in older adulthood. Sage Open, 14(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440241267141

Thoma, M. V., Goreis, A., Rohner, S. L., Nater, U. M., Heim, E., & Höltge, J. (2023). Characteristics of health and well-being in former Jehovah’s Witnesses in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. Mental Health, Religion &n Culture. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2023.2255144

Somefun, D. S., Theron, L., Höltge, J., & Ungar, M. (2023). Resilience to depression: The role of benevolent childhood experiences in a South African sample. Frontiers in Psychology: Developmental Psychology, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1209504

Theron, L., Höltge, J., & Ungar, M. (2023). Multisystemic supports and adolescent resilience to depression over time: A mixed methods South African case study. Development and Psychopathology. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579423000494

Ungar, M., Theron, L., & Höltge, J. (2023). Multisystemic approaches to researching young people’s resilience: Discovering culturally and contextually sensitive accounts of thriving under adversity. Development and Psychopathology, 35(5), 2199–2213. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579423000469

Höltge, J., Rohner, S. L., Heim, E., Nater, U. M., & Thoma, M. V. (2022). Differential pathways from child maltreatment types to insecure adult attachment styles via psychological and social resources: A Bayesian network analysis. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 38(11-12), 7089–7114. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605221140039

Theron, L., Ungar, M., & Höltge, J. (2022). Student resilience to COVID-19-related school disruptions: The value of historic school engagement. School Psychology International. https://doi.org/10.1177/014303432211387

Höltge, J. & Ungar, M. (2022). Quantifying Resilience as an Outcome: Advancing the Residual Approach with Influence Statistics to Derive More Adequate Thresholds of Resilience. Adversity and Resilience Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42844-022-00078-6

Höltge, J., Cowden, R. G., Matthew T. L., Bechara, A. O., Joynt, S., Kamble, S., Khalanskyi, V. V., Shtanko, L., Kurniati, N. M. T., Tymchenko, S., Voytenko, V. L., McNeely, E., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2022). A Systems Perspective on Flourishing: Exploring Cross-country Similarities and Differences of a Multisystemic Flourishing Network. The Journal of Positive Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2022.2093784

Thoma, M. V., Rohner, S. L., Heim, E., Hermann, R. M., Roos, M., Evangelista, K. W. M., Nater, U. M., & Höltge, J. (2022). Identifying well-being profiles and resilience characteristics in ex-members of fundamentalist Christian faith communities. Stress and Health. http://doi.org/10.1002/smi.3157

Jefferies, P., Höltge, J., Fritz, J., & Ungar, M. (2022). A cross-country network analysis of resilience systems in young adults. Emerging Adulthood. https://doi.org/10.1177/216769682210900

Cameranesi, M., Theron, L., Höltge, J., Jeffries, P., & Ungar, M. (2022). Understanding the Mechanisms Through Which Family Risk Affects Adolescent Externalizing Problems: A Model of Multisystemic Resilience in Context. Children. https://doi.org/10.3390/children9040546

Theron, L., Rothmann, S., Höltge, J.,  & Ungar, M. (2022). Differential adaptation to adversity: A latent profile analysis of youth engagement with resilience-enabling cultural resources and mental health outcomes in a stressed Canadian and South African community. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220221221077353

Theron, L., Ungar, M., & Höltge, J. (2022). Pathways of resilience: Predicting school engagement trajectories for South African adolescents living in a stressed environment. Contemporary Educational Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2022.102062

Höltge, J., Theron, L., & Ungar, M. (2021). A multisystemic perspective on the temporal interplay between adolescent depression and resilience-supporting individual and social resources. Journal of Affective Disorders, 297, 225-232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2021.10.030

Höltge, J., Theron, L., Jefferies, P., & Ungar, M. (2021). Family resilience in a “resource cursed” community dependent on the oil and gas industry. Family Process. https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12641

Höltge, J., Ungar, M., & Theron, L. (2021). The differential interplay of home routines and comforting beliefs on adolescent mental health in situations of severe parental conflict. Adversity and Resilience Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42844-021-00029-7

Höltge, J., Theron, L., van Rensburg, A., Cowden, R.G., Govender, K., & Ungar, M. (2021). Exploring the interrelations between systems of support in 13- to 18-year-old adolescents: A network analysis of resilience promoting systems in a high and middle-income country. Child Development, 92(2), 586-599. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13483

Mahdiani, H., Höltge, J., Theron, L., & Ungar, M. (2021). Resilience in times of economic boom and bust: A narrative study of a rural population dependent upon the oil and gas industry. Journal of Adult Development. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804-020-09363-z

Thoma, V. M. and Höltge, J., Eising, C.M., Pfluger, V., & Rohner, S.L. (2020). Resilience and stress in later life: A network analysis approach depicting complex interactions of resilience resources and stress-related risk factors in older adults. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience: Individual and Social Behaviors. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2020.580969

Jefferies, P., Höltge, J., & Ungar, M. (2020). Social anxiety and resilience: Associations vary by country and sex. Adversity and Resilience Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42844-020-00026-2

Höltge, J., Theron, L., Cowden, R.G., Govender, K., Maximo, S.I., Carranza, J.S., Kapoor, B., Tomar, A., van Rensburg, A., Lu, S., Hu, H., Cavioni, V., Agliati, A., Grazzani, I., Smedema, Y., Kaur, G., Hurlington, K., Sanders, J., Munford, R.,... Ungar, M. (2020). A Cross-Country Network Analysis of Adolescent Resilience. Journal of Adolescent Health, 68(3), 580-588. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.07.010

Stelzer, E. M., Höltge, J., Zhou, N., Maercker, A., & Killikelly, C. (2020). Cross-cultural generalizability of the ICD-11 PGD symptom network: Identification of central symptoms and culturally specific items across German-speaking and Chinese bereaved. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 103, 152211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comppsych.2020.152211

Höltge, J., Samper-Ternent, R., García-Peña, C., & Gutiérrez-Robledo, L. M. (2020). A longitudinal study on multidimensional resilience to physical and psychosocial stress in elderly Mexicans. Journal of Aging and Health, 0898264320932777. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0898264320932777

Höltge, J., Mc Gee, S.L., Maercker, A., & Thoma, M.V. (2019). Steeling in later life: Exploring age-specific effects of varying levels of stress on psychological resilience. International Journal of Aging and Human Development. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0091415019871202

Thoma, M.V., Höltge, J., & Maercker, A. (2019). Kindheitstraumatisierte im Alter – Lebenslektionen und Gesprächsthemen in der Psychotherapie [Traumatized children in higher age – Life lessons and talking points in psychoptherapy]. Psychotherapie im Dialog [Psychotherapy in dialogue]. https://doi.org/10.1055/a-0771-5227

Thoma, M.V., Höltge, J., McGee, S.L., Maercker, A., & Augsburger, M. (2019). Psychological characteristics and stress differentiate between high from low health trajectories in later life: A machine learning analysis. Aging & Mental Health. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2019.1584787

Thoma, M., Höltge, J., Mc Gee, S.L., & Maercker, A. (2018). Successful aging in former indentured child laborers in Switzerland – a qualitative study. Innovation in Aging, 2, 513-513. https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igy023.1901

Mc Gee, S.L., Höltge, J., Maercker, A., & Thoma, M.V. (2018). Sense of coherence and stress-related resilience: Investigating the mediating and moderating mechanisms in the development of resilience following stress or adversity. Frontiers in Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00378

Höltge, J., Mc Gee, S.L., Maercker, A., & Thoma, M.V. (2018). A salutogenic perspective on adverse experiences: The curvilinear relationship of adversity and well-being. European Journal of Health Psychology, 25(2), 53-69. https://doi.org/10.1027/2512-8442/a000011

Höltge, J., Mc Gee, S., Maercker, A., & Thoma, M.V. (2018). Childhood adversities and thriving skills: The sample case of older Swiss former indentured child laborers. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 26(8), 886-895. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jagp.2018.02.002

Höltge, J., Mc Gee, S., & Thoma, M.V. (2018). The curvilinear relationship of early-life adversity and successful aging: The mediating role of mental health. Aging and Mental Health. https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2018.1433635

Höltge, J., Maercker, A., & Thoma, M. V. (2017). PTBS im Alter. Erkennen und Behandeln [PTSD in old age. Identification and treatment]. Psychotherapie im Alter, 14(4), 399-414. Link

Mc Gee, S. L., Höltge, J., Maercker, A., & Thoma, M. V. (2017). Evaluation of the revised Sense of Coherence scale in a sample of older adults: A means to assess resilience aspects. Aging & Mental Health. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/13607863.2017.1364348

Pirgie, L., Schwab, M., Sudkamp, J., Höltge, J., & Cervinka, R. (2016). Recreation in the national park – visiting restorative places in the National Park Thayatal, Austria fosters connectedness and mindfulness. Zeitschrift Umweltpsychology, 20(2), 59-74. Link

Haluza, D., Simic, S., Höltge, J., Cervinka, R., & Moshammer, H. (2016). Gender aspects of recreational sun‐protective behavior: results of a representative, population‐based survey among Austrian residents. Photodermatology, photoimmunology & photomedicine, 32(1), 11-21. https://doi.org/10.1111/phpp.12213

Haluza, D., Simic, S., Höltge, J., Cervinka, R., & Moshammer, H. (2014). Connectedness to Nature and Public (Skin) Health Perspectives: Results of a Representative, Population-Based Survey among Austrian Residents. International journal of environmental research and public health, 11(1), 1176-1191. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph110101176