apl. Prof. Dr Karina Weichold

Academic background

Karina Weichold studied Psychology (Diplom) at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the University College of Galway, Ireland (accompanied by continuing education in family and systemic therapy and completed with a research stay at the headquarters of the World Health Organisation WHO, Geneva). She completed her doctorate in 2002 (summa cum laude) and habilitated at the University of Jena in 2012 on the topic of "Prevention and developmental support in adolescence: review of the school-based addiction prevention life skills programme IPSY", which led to her appointment as a private lecturer and the award of a venia legendi in the subject of "Psychology". The University of Jena appointed her as an adjunct professor in 2018, with corporate status as an appointed professor. Today, Karina Weichold heads the Department of Youth Research at the Institute of Psychology. Karina Weichold has been involved in university body|committees for many years. After holding the office of Dean of Studies of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences from 2019 to 2023, Karina Weichold was elected Vice-President for Learning and Teaching by the Senate of the University of Jena in 2023 and is also Director of the Academy for Teaching Development at the institution of higher education.

Research interests and publications

Karina Weichold's research interests lie in the study of the development of problem behaviour (e.g. substance use, emotional and social problems) and positive development (such as health or competence) in adolescence and youth under a biopsychosocial and culturally sensitive research paradigm. In addition to basic research, a particular focus is on the application of the findings in the development, review and implementation of intervention programmes for the promotion of competence and personality as well as for the development-oriented prevention of problematic behaviour in adolescents, especially in the context of schools, communities and social policy.

Karina Weichold has acquired funding for her research projects from various funding organisations (including the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Federal Centre for Health Education (BZgA), renamed the Federal Institute of Public Health (BIÖG) in 2025, the German Children and Youth Foundation (DKJS), the state of Thuringia, the economy and the German health system). This also includes job funding and scholarships for the national and international members of her research group|working group|study|task force.

The results of her studies have been discussed and published in a total of over 150 presentations and symposia at specialist conferences as well as over 70 international peer-reviewed articles and papers in German in specialist journals or books. She has published one book and two more are currently in print. In addition, Karina Weichold has edited a total of almost 50 special issues/sections in specialist journals and edited the Bulletin of the International Society for the Study of Behavioural DevelopmentExternal link (Main Editor of the ISSBD Bulletin).

Position and network

Karina Weichold is nationally and internationally networked with various facilities|institution|(structural) units in science, politics, prevention and practice. She is also a member of interdisciplinary expert groups and consortia, such as the international consortium The Cross-National Project on Positive Youth Development (CN-PYD) at the University of Bergen, Norway.

Karina Weichold was awarded the doctoral thesis prize of the University of Jena in 2003 and the award of the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development (ISSBD)External link: ISSBD Fellow - In recognition of outstanding contributions to the field of lifespan human development in 2022. Together with her colleagues (A. Kilian and A. Blumenthal), she recently (2024) received the Poster Award of the German Prevention DayExternal link.

Teaching and programme management

She has been teaching in the subject areas of developmental psychology, developmental psychopathology and lifespan psychology at the University of Jena for many years, and more recently on the foundations and methods of psychology, youth research and general psychology from a lifespan perspective. She also teaches as part of the Psychological Psychotherapy de training programme at the University of Jena and has regular teaching contracts at various European universities (e.g. Master's and university courses in "Addiction and Violence Prevention in Educational Action Fields" in Linz).External link In connection with her teaching activities, she has supervised over 65 qualification theses.

Karina Weichold heads and coordinates the B. A. Psychology programme at the University of Jena.

Selected publications

• Noack, P., Kracke, B., & Weichold, K. (2024). Development in adolescence and early adulthood. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. to the bookExternal link
• Weichold, K., Mahama, S., & Fehmer, N. (2024). Initiation Ceremonies and Rites of Passage. In: Encyclopedia of Adolescence, Second Edition. Elsevier. to full textpdf, 402 kb · de
• Weichold, K., Blumenthal, A., Kilian, A., & Silbereisen, R. K. (2023). Addiction prevention in school. IPSY - A life skills programme for grades 5 to 7 (2nd completely revised edition). Göttingen: Hogrefe. to the bookExternal link
• Weichold, K., & Silbereisen, R. K. (2018). Adolescence. In W. Schneider & U. Lindenberger (Eds.), Developmental Psychology, pp. 239-264. Beltz. to the book-External link
• Weichold, K., & Blumenthal, A. (2016). Long-term effects of the Life Skills programme IPSY on substance use: Results of a 4.5-year Longitudinal Study. Prevention Science, 17(1). to full textExternal link
• Spaeth, M., Weichold, K., & Silbereisen, R. K. (2015). The Development of Leisure Boredom in Early Adolescence: Predictors and Longitudinal Associations with Delinquency and Depression. Developmental Psychology. 51(10), 1380-1394. to full textExternal link
• Weichold, K. (2014). Translation of aetiology into evidence-based prevention: The Life Skills programme IPSY. New Directions for Youth Development, 141, 83-94. doi: 10.1002/yd.20088. full textExternal link