Dispositional optimism, stress, post-traumatic stress disorder and post-traumatic growth in Greek general population facing the COVID-19 crisis

Abstract

The aim of this study is to explore psychological and mental health implications of social distancing and lockdown, in Greece in order to gain a better understanding of the COVID-19 crisis. For the purposes of this article, quantitative measures are used: the Greek versions of “Life Orientation Scale-Revised” (LOT-R) (Lyrakos, Damigos, Mavreas, Georgia, & Dimoliatis, 2010) to investigate the presence of dispositional optimism tendencies, “Impact of Event scale” (Mystakidou, Tsilika, Parpa, Galanos, & Vlahos, 2007) to assess the traumatic evaluation of the current events, “Perceived Stress Scale” (Andreou et al., 2011) to measure the stress levels amongst population, and “Posttraumatic Growth Inventory” (Mystakidou, Tsilika, Parpa, Galanos, & Vlahos, 2008) to examine positive aspects of the situation, are used. Questionnaires were distributed online a month after social distancing measures and three weeks following lockdown. The survey is addressed to general adult population and data collection lasted until the end of curfew (May 4th 2020). Hundred and sixty-seven (N = 167) participants completed the survey. Main results show that women obtain higher scores than men on the Impact Event Scale and they identify social distancing and curfew as traumatic events. However, men exhibit higher levels of Posttraumatic growth comparing to women, as to subscales “life appreciation” and “spirituality”. Stress and posttraumatic stress are highly correlated to PTG and enable its development in the context of COVID-19. Implications for research and practice will be recommended.