Bob Knight

His key findings to date include the existence of a common core model linking behavior problems to appraised burden to poor physical and mental health outcomes. There is evidence for differences between ethnic and national groups in the influence of coping styles and social support in the model and for the influence of cultural values of familial obligation on poor health, usually acting through coping styles or through social support. The proposed project builds on his research by exploring caregivers’ own views of their personal adaptive systems and of the personal and cultural values motivating and sustaining caregiving.

Knight has published extensively in mental health and aging, including Psychotherapy with older adults (Sage, 3rd ed. 2004, available in French, Dutch, Japanese, and Chinese translations), Outreach with the elderly (NYU Press, 1989), Older adults in psychotherapy: Case histories (Sage, 1992). He is the senior editor, along with Linda Teri, Paul Wohlford, and John Santos, of Mental health services for older adults: Implications for training and practice (1995), and co-edited with Steven Zarit, A guide to psychotherapy and aging: Effective clinical interventions in a life-stage context (1996), both published by APA Books. He is also the co-editor with Sara Qualls of Psychotherapy with depression in older adults (2006), published by Wiley and with Ken Laidlaw of Handbook of emotional disorders in late life: Assessment and treatment (2008).

Bob G. Knight (born October 18, 1950), is the former associate dean of the USC Davis School of Gerontology, the Merle H. Bensinger Professor of Gerontology and Psychology and the director of the Tingstad Older Adult Counseling Center. He is best known for research and theory development on cross-cultural issues in stress and coping during family caregiving for dementia and also for theory and scholarship on adapting psychotherapy for work with older adults.