Rate My Professor Janet Spittlehouse

Dr. Janet Spittlehouse is a Research Fellow in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Otago, Christchurch, contributing to the Christchurch Health and Development Study. She earned a BSc (Hons) in Psychology from the University of Liverpool and a PhD in Psychology from the University of Otago in 2017. Her doctoral thesis, titled 'Personality Associations with Mood, Hoarding, Health and Well-being in a Midlife Birth Cohort,' examined personality traits in relation to mental health outcomes in midlife populations. Spittlehouse joined the Canterbury Health, Ageing and Life Course (CHALICE) study as research coordinator in 2008 and advanced to research fellow in 2009. Her career at the University of Otago involves longitudinal cohort research focusing on mental health trajectories, personality assessments, and demographic correlates of psychological conditions.

Spittlehouse's research specializations include the long-term mental health impacts of natural disasters, such as the Christchurch earthquake sequence, sexual orientation and mental health over the life course, trajectories of alcohol use problems from early adolescence, hoarding behaviors, temperament and character in relation to depression severity and well-being, menopause status and climacteric symptoms, and recruitment challenges in longitudinal studies post-disaster. Key publications include 'Sexual orientation and mental health over the life course in a birth cohort' (Psychological Medicine, 2020), 'Trajectories of alcohol use problems based on early adolescent alcohol use: Findings from a 35 year population cohort' (International Journal of Drug Policy, 2019), 'Ongoing adverse mental health impact of the earthquake sequence in Christchurch, New Zealand' (Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 2014), 'Personality, mental health and demographic correlates of hoarding behaviours in a midlife sample' (PeerJ, 2016), and 'Measures of temperament and character are differentially impacted on by depression severity' (Journal of Affective Disorders, 2010). Her publications have accumulated over 470 citations. She has supervised doctoral students, including on network approaches to psychopathology, and contributed to studies on childhood anxious behavior and later anxiety disorders.