Posttraumatic growth in survivors of mass trauma : a meta-analytic study

Abstract

Posttraumatic growth (PTG) is self-reported positive psychological changes that occur after an individual had survived a major life crisis. According to Tedeschi and Calhoun (1996), distress from traumatic experience would trigger cognitive processes which subsequently change the belief systems as PTG. The relationships between PTG and posttraumatic stress (PTS) have attracted much research interest. Existing studies which aimed to answer whether PTG is caused by PTS, and whether PTG alleviates PTS have failed to arrive at consistent conclusions. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have revealed positive, negative and no relationships between the two constructs. Using Tedeschi and Calhoun’s (1996) model and Posttraumatic Growth Inventory as measure, the current meta-analytic study (k = 16, N = 4898) used a cross-lagged panel design to examine the changes in PTG and PTS over time, and the temporal effects of PTG and PTS in both directions in survivors of mass trauma. It was found that at the early post-disaster phase, PTG and PTS are positively correlated. Having accounted for temporal stabilities of PTG and PTS and the effect of their concurrent association at earlier time, PTG was predicted by earlier PTS, but it did not alleviate or worsen later PTS. A phenomenon of “deteriorating PTG” was also revealed. These findings supported the assertion that PTG, triggered by PTS, turned into a genuine positive outcome of the traumatic experience over time rather than being merely a self-illusory coping to deal with distress. Attention should be paid to the recognition of positive gains in face of adversity. The results also alerted practitioners not to assume no treatment need for PTS even when PTG was shown. Furthermore, alleviation of PTS should not rely on growth intervention.