Western Paraná State University (UNIOESTE) · Faculty of Medicine & Graduate Program in Applied Health Sciences
ORCID 0000-0002-9014-6120 · Scopus 36700764100 · Lattes CNPq
Guilherme W. Wendt, Ph.D. Personality, Individual Differences & Public Health

Research Laboratory · UNIOESTE / CNPq

LAPEDI

Personality and Individual Differences Laboratory — the only research group in the State of Paraná specifically dedicated to the scientific study of personality and individual differences.

Mission & Scope

Biopsychosocial mechanisms of health and illness.

UNIOESTE is the only state university in Brazil to achieve the maximum institutional grade (5/5) from the Ministry of Education (INEP/MEC, 2024).

The Personality and Individual Differences Laboratory (LAPEDI) is embedded within the Faculty of Medicine, the Graduate Program in Applied Health Sciences (PPGCAS), and the University Medical Outpatient Clinic at Western Paraná State University (UNIOESTE).

Registered in the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) directory, LAPEDI is the only research group in Paraná State specifically devoted to personality science. Our mission is to elucidate the mechanisms involved in the onset and maintenance of health and disease—quantifying the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity and advancing evidence-based assessment, prevention, and clinical intervention, with particular emphasis on chronic pain and minority stress.

Bridging basic personality theory and clinical epidemiology, the laboratory combines psychometric modeling (IRT, bifactor structures, cross-national measurement invariance) with physiological and behavioral correlates across clinical, educational, and community populations.

Research Streams

Active Laboratory Streams

I

Personality, Psychopathology & Individual Differences

Callous-unemotional and psychopathic traits, emotional regulation, technostress, and behavioral/physiological correlates of adaptive and maladaptive personality dimensions across the lifespan.

II

Stigma, Minority Stress & Public Mental Health

Psychosocial determinants of depression, anxiety, suicidality, and treatment adherence among people living with HIV/AIDS, sexual and gender minorities, youth exposed to bullying, and incarcerated populations.

III

Psychometrics & Cross-National Measurement

Scale development, bifactor modeling, item response theory (IRT), clinical cutoffs, and multi-group measurement invariance across diverse linguistic and cultural contexts.

IV

Chronic Pain, Behavioral Medicine & Environmental Health

Affective and cognitive pathways in fibromyalgia and chronic pain, oncology biomarkers and survival, and population-level mental and physical health impacts of environmental disasters and extreme climate events.

Laboratory Output

Selected Studies from LAPEDI

Full publication repository →
2026 Personality and Individual Differences Q1 - Personality Psychology Cited by 1

Psychometric evaluation of the hypersexual behavior inventory in a Brazilian sample of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men: Bifactor structure, item response theory, and preliminary classification indicators

Alckmin-Carvalho, F., Teixeira, I., Wendt, G. W., Pereira, H. — Personality and Individual Differences, 264, 114042.

Full Text (PDF / Open Access) DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2026.114042 ↗ Article Page →
2026 The Lancet Regional Health - Americas The Lancet Regional Health - Americas | Q1

Environmental and public health outcomes following the Fundão dam collapse (Mariana, Brazil): a retrospective ecological study of drinking water quality and cancer mortality

Panis, C., Ponmattam, J., Pires de Paula Filho, A. R., Paz, R. G., Gaboardi, S. C., Wendt, G. W., Castro, M. C. — The Lancet Regional Health - Americas, 63, 101615.

Full Text (PDF / Open Access) DOI: 10.1016/j.lana.2026.101615 ↗ Article Page →