Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms and Post-Traumatic Growth: Evidence from a Longitudinal Study following an Earthquake Disaster.
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 26046912.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0127241 and PMC identifier 4457873.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The current longitudinal study aims to examine the bidirectional relationship between post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and post-traumatic growth (PTG). METHOD: One hundred twenty-two adults in the most severely affected area were investigated by self-report questionnaires at 12 months and 18 months after the Wenchuan Earthquake occurred in China. RESULTS: The autoregressive cross-lagged structure equation analysis revealed that PTG at 12 months post-earthquake could negatively predict PTSS at 18 months post-earthquake above and beyond PTSS stability, whereas PTSS at 12 months post-earthquake could not significantly predict subsequent PTG. Moreover, PTG at 12 months post-earthquake could predict fewer subsequent intrusions, numbing and hyper-arousal symptoms but not avoidance symptoms. CONCLUSION: Growth can play a role in reducing long-term post-traumatic stress symptoms, and the implication of a positive perspective in post-trauma circumstance is discussed.
Medical subject headings
- Earthquakes
- Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic