Prof. Sarah E. Hampson

Professor of Psychology and Health
BA (Exeter), PhD (Exeter) CPsychol

Summary Biography

Sarah Hampson obtained both her undergraduate degree and PhD from the University of Exeter . She has held academic posts at the University of Lancaster , Birkbeck College University of London, San Diego State University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She spent 8 years in a full-time research position at the Oregon Research Institute (ORI), Eugene , Oregon , USA prior to joining to the University of Surrey in 1995, and now divides her time between ORI and the University of Surrey .

Research Interests

Sarah Hampson 's research interests encompass personality and health psychology. Within personality psychology, she researched people's use of concepts to describe themselves and others. Within health psychology, she examined people's concepts of their chronic illnesses, and evaluated interventions to improve the self-management of chronic illness, with an emphasis on diabetes. She is now researching the interface of personality and health psychology in a number of projects including a longitudinal study of the personality and health of residents of Hawaii , and a cohort-sequential study of the development of substance use among Oregon school children. She has been principal or co-investigator on numerous grants including ones from National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation in the USA , and from Diabetes UK , the Nuffield Foundation, and the National Health Service in the UK

Three recently addressed research questions:

Does childhood personality predict adult health status and health behaviour?

A first step towards answering this question has been accomplished by assessing self-reported health and health behaviour for a sample of around 1,000 adults for whom we have teacher ratings of personality obtained 30 - 40 years ago. Hampson et al. (2001) . Childhood personality traits, in particular Conscientiousness, were associated with one or more of adult smoking, alcohol use, Body Mass Index and self-rated general health. See Hampson, Goldberg, et al., (in press). Currently, the sample is undergoing a medical examination to obtain objective data on their health status at midlife. This project is funded by the National Institute on Aging (USA).

Do older people discuss their wishes for end-of-life care with their relatives, and what factors influence their choices?

Qualitative analysis of focus groups' discussions revealed the dilemmas that underlie older people's decisions concerning end-of-life care, in particular whether or not they would wish to be resuscitated. See Vandrevala, Hampson, et al. (in press). An interview study indicated that 25% of patients and their relatives did not agree on whether they had discussed end-of-life care. Relatives were more likely to favour life-prolonging interventions than patients. This research highlights the importance of making one's wishes for end-of-life care known before becoming incapacitated. These studies were funded by the Nuffield Foundation (UK).

Are the effects of childhood personality traits on intentions to use substances mediated by attitudes and subjective norms?

The Oregon Youth Substance Use Project is a cohort-sequential study that permits us to examine this question using latent growth modeling. We found that childhood hostility and sociability predicted level and growth of intentions to use alcohol, and that these effects were mediated by the growth of young children's attitudes and social norms. We are currently assessing whether these traits influence intentions to use other substances, and whether they influence actual substance use See Hampson, Andrews, et al. (in press).

Professional Activities

Professional memberships

Graduate member of the British Psychological Association and Chartered Health Psychologist
Foreign affiliate of the American Psychological Association
Member of the European Association for Personality Psychology
Board of Directors: 1996-1998,
Founding Secretary: 1984-1988,
President-Elect, 1998-2000,
President, 2000-2002
Member the Association for Research in Personality

Current and Recent Editorial Responsibilities

Personality and Social Psychology Review
Associate Editor, 2004-2006
European Journal of Personality
Editorial Consultant, 1995- 2000,
Associate Editor, 2000-2003
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Consulting Editor, 1997-1998, 2003-2004
Journal of Research in Personality
Consulting Editor, 1994-

Recent Publications

Hampson, S. E., Andrews, J. A., Barckley, M. (in press). Childhood predictors of adolescent marijuana use: Early sensation seeking, deviant peer affiliation, and social images. Addictive Behaviors.

Hampson, S. E. (in press). Mechanisms by which childhood personality traits influence adult well-being. Current Directions in Psychological Science.

Westling, E., Andrews, J. A., Hampson, S. E., & Peterson, M. (in press). Pubertal timing and substance use: The effects of gender, parental monitoring and deviant peers. Journal of Adolescent Health.

Hampson, S. E., & Friedman, H. S. (in press). Personality and health: A lifespan perspective. In O. P. John, R. Robins, & L. Pervin (Eds.), The handbook of personality: Theory and research (3rd edition). New York: Guilford.

Andrews, J. A., Hampson, S. E., & Barckley, M. (in press).The effect of subjective normative social images on children’s intentions to smoke. Nicotine and Tobacco Research.

Andrews, J. A., Hampson, S. E., Barckley, M., Gerrard, M., & Gibbons, F. X. (2008). The effect of early cognitions on cigarette and alcohol use in adolescence. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 22, 96-106.

Garnett, D., Vandrevala, T., Hampson, S. E., Daly, T., & Arber, S. (2008). Family members’ perspectives on potential involvement discussions about life prolongation for their older relatives. Mortality, 13(1), 65-81.

Hampson, S. E., Andrews, J. A., Peterson, M., & Duncan, S. C. (2007). A cognitive behavioral mechanism leading to adolescent obesity: Children’s social images and physical activity. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 34(3), 287-294.

Hampson, S. E., Andrews, J. A., & Barckley, M. (2007). Predictors of development of elementary-school children’s intentions to smoke cigarettes: Prototypes, subjective norms, and hostility. Nicotine and Tobacco Control, 9 (7), 751-760.

Ellis, J. G., Hampson, S. E., & Cropley, M. (2007). The role of dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes in late-life insomnia. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 62(1), 81-84.

Hampson, S. E., Andrews, J. A., Barckley, M., & Peterson, M. (2007). Trait stability and continuity in childhood: Relating sociability and hostility to the Five-Factor Model. Journal of Research in Personality, 41 (3), 507-523.

Lichtenstein, E., Lee, M. E., Boles, S. M., Hampson, S. E., Glasgow, R. E., & Fellows, J. (2007). Using radon risk to motivate smoking reduction II: Evaluation of brief telephone counseling and a targeted video.  Health Education Research; doi:10.1093/her/cym016.

Kanazawa, A., White, P. M., & Hampson, S. E. (2007).  Ethnic variation in depressive symptoms in a community sample in Hawaii.  Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 13(1), 35-44.        http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2288586

Hampson, S. E., Goldberg, L. R., Vogt, T. M., & Dubanoski, J. P. (2007).  Mechanisms by which childhood personality traits influence adult health status:  Educational attainment and healthy behaviors.  Health Psychology, 26, 121-125. http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2239240

Hampson, S. E., & Goldberg, L. R. (2006).  A first large-cohort study of personality-trait stability over the 40 years between elementary school and midlife.  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 763-779. http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2247365

Hampson, S. E., Andrews, J. A., Barckley, M., & Severson, H. H. (2006).  Personality predictors of the development of elementary-school children’s intentions to drink alcohol: The mediating effects of attitudes and subjective norms.  Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 20(3), 288-297.

Hampson, S. E., Andrews, J. A., Barckley, M., Lichtenstein, E., & Lee, M. (2006).  Personality traits, perceived risk, and risk-reduction behaviors: A further study of smoking and radon.  Health Psychology, 25, 530-536.

Hair, P., & Hampson, S. E. (2006).  The role of impulsivity in predicting maladaptive behaviour among female students.  Personality and Individual Differences, 40, 943-952.

Vandrevala, T., Hampson, S. E., Daly, T., Arber, A., & Thomas, H. (2006). Dilemmas in decision-making about resuscitation. Social Science and Medicine, 62, 1579-1593.

Hampson, S. E., Goldberg, L. R., Vogt, T. M., & Dubanoski, J. P. (2006).  Forty Years on: Teachers’ assessments of children’s personality traits predict self-reported health behaviors and outcomes at midlife.  Health Psychology, 25(1), 57-64.
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