Self-esteem and hope mediate the relations between social support and post-traumatic stress disorder and growth in adolescents following the Ya’an earthquake

Abstract

ABSTRACTBackground and objective: Although posttraumatic stress disorders (PTSD) and posttraumatic growth (PTG) can co-exist, and several theories suggest that social support, self-esteem, and hope can predict both PTSD and PTG, no study to date has examined the combined role of social support, self-esteem, and hope in PTSD and PTG. The present study aimed to simultaneously examine the mediating roles of self-esteem and hope in the relations between social support and PTSD, and between social support and PTG.Design: This study included 397 adolescents living in Lushan County, China, who were affected by the Ya’an earthquake.Method: The participants completed the self-report questionnaires at two and a half years after the earthquake. Structural equation models were built to examine the roles of social support, self-esteem, and hope in PTSD and PTG.Results: Social support directly and negatively predicted PTSD and positively predicted PTG. Moreover, social support negatively predicted PTSD via self-esteem, and positively predicted PTG via hope. In addition, social support positively predicted PTG through multiple mediating paths from self-esteem to hope.Conclusions: PTSD and PTG had different predictive paths. Specifically, social support reduced PTSD through enhanced self-esteem and promoted PTG through hope, or through the path from self-esteem to hope.