Catharina Wold Robson
Honorary Visiting Fellow

Profile

Biography

• BSc Sociology with Social Psychology (2013 - University of York)
• MA Physical Activity, Nutrition and Public Health (2015 - University of Bristol)
• PhD Psychology (2023-2027 (ongoing) - University of Bergen)

Cathy completed her BSc in Sociology at the University of York in 2013 and returned a decade later as a visiting researcher. She now holds the position of honorary research fellow in the department.

Cathy’s primary research focuses on body weight perception and body image, particularly in relation to social media use. Her research interests encompass health behaviours in children and adolescents, public health, physical activity, and social media use among these age groups. Cathy is a member of the international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study, a collaborative cross-national research project involving 50 countries across Europe and North America, conducted in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO). This study, conducted every four years since 1985, aims to understand the health and well-being of adolescents aged 11, 13, and 15 years. Within HBSC, Cathy is a member of the Norwegian team, the International Coordination Centre (ICC), and the Data Management Centre (DMC).

Cathy is a lecturer at the Department of Health Promotion and Development at the University of Bergen. She teaches in the master’s program in Health Promotion and Health Psychology, in addition to conducting her PhD research. Her lectures focus on health psychology models, critical thinking and writing, developmental assets in health, problem-based learning (PBL), quantitative methods, research planning, and applied statistical analysis. She also supervises master’s dissertations, including topics such as the association between self-efficacy and subjective health complaints, and the correlation between a positive paternal relationship and the ability to form peer friendships, with self-efficacy as a mediating factor.

Research

Overview

Research interests

• Body image, body dissatisfaction and body weight perception
• Social media use (upward social comparison and self-presentation on social media)
• Health behaviours in adolescence and childhood
• Social inequality in mental health
• Eating and dieting in adolescence
• Physical activity
• Self-efficacy 

Publications

Selected publications

Reports:

Haug, E., Robson, C.W., Helland, T., Jåstad, A., Torsheim, T., Fismen, A.-S., & Wold, B., Samdal, O. (2020). HEMIL-rapport 2020. Barn og unges helse og trivsel – forekomst og sosial ulikhet i Norge og Norden. Department of Health Promotion and Development, Universitetet i Bergen. 

Planned articles related to the PhD:

• 2024 (in process)– Trend analysis of body weight perception among Norwegian adolescents over 28 years (1994-2022)
• 2025 – Self-presentation and social comparison: Mediators in the association between social media use and body weight perception
• 2026 – Cross-national study on social media use and body weight perception in 19 European and Eastern-European countries