Dr. JUNUS Alvin
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Dr. JUNUS Alvin
Dr. JUNUS Alvin
Research Assistant Professor
ajunus@hku.hk
64094719
11/F, T. T. Tsui Building
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Biography

“Alvin Junus is a Research Assistant Professor at the Department of Social Work and Social Administration and the HKJC Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention at the University of Hong Kong. He obtained his PhD from the University of Hong Kong and did his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Amsterdam.

His research focuses on early suicide prevention for young people, particularly in vulnerable subpopulations such as problematic gamers, youths involved in bullying, and youths with psychiatric disorders. He employs data analytics methodologies such as latent variable modelling, network psychometrics, and network inference to disentangle interplays between biopsychosocial determinants and identify precise action targets for preventive interventions.”

Selected Publications
  • Junus, A., Ye, X., Caine, E. D., & Yip, P. S. F. (2026). Interpersonal factors differentiating current states of suicidal ideation among young Internet gamers with past suicidal ideation. Journal of Affective Disorders, 393, 120300. DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2025.120300
  • van der Spek, N.#, Junus, A.#, van Ballegooijen, W., Starreveld, J., Wiers, R. W., & Bockting, C. (2025). Mental health symptom profiles and temporal trends in Dutch young people’s social and emotional wellbeing and suicidality, 2017–2023. Journal of Affective Disorders, 390, 119844. DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2025.119844
  • Junus, A., & Yip, P. S. F. (2024). Evaluating potential effects of distress symptoms’ interventions on suicidality: Analyses of in silico scenarios. Journal of Affective Disorders, 347, 352-363. DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2023.11.060
  • S. Li, Junus, A., & Yip, P. S. F. (2024). Unveiling the impacts of exposure and social proximity to suicidality on help-seeking behavior among the young generation. SSM – Mental Health, 100357. DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmmh.2024.100357
  • Fong, T. C. T., Lu, S., Ye, X., Junus, A., & Yip, P. S. F (2024). Validation of the 12-item Gamification User Types Hexad Scale in 1,610 Hong Kong young gamers. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction. DOI: 10.1007/s11469-024-01367-0
  • Fong, T. C. T., Junus, A., Wen, M., & Yip, P. S. F. (2024). Comorbidity among symptoms of internet gaming disorder, social withdrawal, and depression in 3,430 young people in Hong Kong: A network analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 359, 319-326. DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.05.091
  • Junus, A., & Yip, P. S. F. (2023). Preventing comorbidity between distress and suicidality: a network analysis. npj Mental Health Research, 2(2). DOI: 10.1038/s44184-023-00022-1
  • Lee, J. & Junus, A. (2023). Differences and similarities in youth social-emotional competence measurement between North American and East Asian countries: Exploratory graph analysis using the OECD Survey on Social and Emotional Skills data. Child Indicators Research, 17(1), 57-79. DOI: 10.1007/s12187-023-10074-6
  • Hsu, Y. C., Junus, A., Zhang, Q., Wong, C., Lam, T. M., Cheung, F., Liu, J., Lui, I. D., & Yip, P. S. F. (2023). A network approach to understand co-occurrence and relative importance of different reasons for suicide: A territory-wide study using 2002-2019 Hong Kong Coroner’s Court reports. The Lancet Regional Health – Western Pacific, 36 (100752). DOI: 10.1016/j.lanwpc.2023.100752
  • Junus, A., Hsu, Y. C., Wong, C., & Yip, P. S. F. (2023). Is Internet Gaming Disorder linked to increased risk of suicidal behaviors among the younger generation? Journal of Psychiatric Research, 161, 2-9. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2023.02.038
  • Junus, A., Kwan, C., Wong, C., Chen, Z., & Yip, P. S. F. (2023). Shifts in patterns of help-seeking during the COVID-19 pandemic: The case of Hong Kong’s younger generation. Social Science & Medicine, 318, 115648. DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115648
  • Xiao, Y., Junus, A., Li, T., & Yip, P. S. F. (2023). Temporal and spatial trends in suicide-related visits before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in the US, 2018-2021. Journal of Affective Disorders, 324, 24-35. DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2022.12.062
  • Cai, Z., Junus, A., Chang, Q., & Yip, P. S. (2022). The lethality of suicide methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 300, 121-129. DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2021.12.054
  • Junus, A., & Yip, P. S. F. (2022). Suicide risk profile and the social convoy: Population-level patterns of the young generation’s help-seeking behavior and implications for suicide prevention. Journal of Affective Disorders, 297, 559-569. DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2021.10.106
  • Hossain, M. P., Junus, A., Zhu, X., Jia, P., Wen, T. H., Pfeiffer, D., & Yuan, H. Y. (2020). The effects of border control and quarantine measures on the spread of COVID-19. Epidemics, 32, 100397. DOI: 10.1016/j.epidem.2020.100397
  • Cheung, M., She, J., Junus, A., & Cao, L. (2016). Prediction of virality timing using cascades in social media. ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing, Communications, and Applications (TOMM), 13(1), 1-23. DOI: 10.1145/2978771
Key Community Services
  • Editorial Board Member, BMC Psychology
  • Mentor, Indonesia Mengglobal Mentorship and PhD Bootcamp programs