Does perceived post-traumatic growth during the COVID-19 pandemic reflect actual positive changes? Anxiety Stress Coping 2023 Nov;36(6):661-673
Date
01/03/2023Pubmed ID
36592338Pubmed Central ID
PMC10314967DOI
10.1080/10615806.2022.2157821Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85145470788 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 2 CitationsAbstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: People commonly report positive changes following stressful experiences (perceived posttraumatic growth; PPTG), yet whether PPTG validly reflects positive changes remains unestablished.
DESIGN AND METHODS: We tested the extent to which COVID-19 pandemic-related PPTG relates to positive changes in corresponding psychosocial resources in a national US sample participating in a five wave study (T1-T5), focusing here on T2-T5: nsā=ā712-860. We examined correlations between resource change (both latent and observed difference scores) and PPTG at each occasion and conducted structural equation models to separate occasion-specific and stable (traitlike) PPTG variance. We related changes in resources to occasion-specific and stable PPTG components.
RESULTS: Associations between change scores and occasion-specific PPTG were sparse, providing limited evidence of PPTG validity. Associations between change scores and stable PPTG tended to be positive and stronger than associations for occasion-specific PPTG.
DISCUSSION: Perceptions of growth were largely unrelated to experienced positive changes and thus appear to be largely illusory. However, a personality-like tendency to believe one grows from stressful experiences relates more strongly to actual resource growth. These results suggest that people are not accurate reporters of positive changes they experience and that interventions aimed at promoting post-traumatic growth may be premature.
Author List
Park CL, Wilt JA, Russell BS, Fendrich MAuthor
Michael Fendrich PhD Professor in the Emergency Medicine department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
HumansPandemics
Pedunculopontine Tegmental Nucleus