The good, the bad, the ugly: A qualitative exploration of life‐course posttraumatic growth for individuals formerly sentenced to juvenile life without parole

There is increasing recognition that, in addition to negative psychological consequences of trauma such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), some individuals may develop post-traumatic growth (PTG) following such experiences. To date, however, data regarding the prevalence, correlates and functional significance of PTG in population-based samples are lacking. Data were analysed from the National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study, a contemporary, nationally representative survey of 3157 US veterans. Veterans completed a survey containing measures of sociodemographic, military, health and psychosocial characteristics, and the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory-Short Form. We found that 50.1% of all veterans and 72.0% of veterans who screened positive for PTSD reported at least 'moderate' PTG in relation to their worst traumatic event. An inverted U-shaped relationship was found to best explain the relationship between PTSD symptoms and PTG. Among veterans with PTSD, those with PTSD reported better mental functioning and general health than those without PTG. Experiencing a life-threatening illness or injury and re-experiencing symptoms were most strongly associated with PTG. In multivariable analysis, greater social connectedness, intrinsic religiosity and purpose in life were independently associated with greater PTG. PTG is prevalent among US veterans, particularly among those who screen positive for PTSD. These results suggest that there may be a 'positive legacy' of trauma that has functional significance for veterans. They further suggest that interventions geared toward helping trauma-exposed US veterans process their re-experiencing symptoms, and to develop greater social connections, sense of purpose and intrinsic religiosity may help promote PTG in this population.

This study investigates how adults who faced childhood adversity develop resilience, using the Resilience Portfolio Model to assess the impact of early victimization on adult well-being and posttraumatic growth. A sample of 689 adults aged 18 to 60 (average age 25.2 years, SD = 9.62) was recruited online in Kosovo, a collectivist and post-conflict society. Participants completed a survey on youth victimization, psychosocial strengths, subjective well-being and posttraumatic growth. Findings from the study show that 93% experienced some form of victimization, including 40% who were exposed to parental violence. Blockwise logistic regressions indicated that poly-strengths (an indicator of the breadth of one's resilience portfolio), sense of purpose, optimism, and religious meaning making were associated with higher levels of posttraumatic growth, controlling for polyvictimization and demographics (total R2 = 0.39). Poly-strengths, sense of purpose, optimism, and psychological endurance were associated with higher subjective well-being (total R2 = 0.34). Unexpectedly, some strengths were associated with lower posttraumatic growth, including coping, anger management, and moral-based meaning making. Findings from this highly victimized sample show that several strengths seem promising in promoting resilience. Intervention and prevention programs should consider focusing on promoting a sense of purpose or broadening resilience portfolios. More research is needed in other collectivist and post-conflict societies.

Losing a loved one to suicide is an event that can have strong and potentially traumatic impacts on the lives of the bereaved survivors, especially regarding their grief, which can be complicated. These bereaved individuals are also less likely to receive social support following their bereavement. However, besides these adverse impacts, growing evidence supports the concept of posttraumatic growth following suicide bereavement. Posttraumatic growth is the personal improvement that occurs as a consequence of experiencing a traumatic or extremely challenging event or crisis. Only 1 systematic review and meta-analysis on posttraumatic growth following suicide bereavement has been conducted; this protocol is for the planned systematic review and meta-analysis update of the original systematic review and meta-analysis, as the original review collected its data in 2018. This review aims to investigate demographic characteristics, correlational relationships, and facilitative factors of posttraumatic growth in individuals bereaved by suicide. In addition, as this is an update of a previous systematic review and meta-analysis, we aim to compare our findings with the original review and to identify any similarities or differences. This protocol outlines the planned procedures of the updated systematic review and meta-analysis. MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Embase, CINAHL, Scopus, and Web of Science (Core Collection) were examined, and the search results were imported to Covidence, where title and abstract screenings and full-text screenings occurred. The inclusion and exclusion criteria for this updated review match those in the original review: (1) the study population must contain participants bereaved by suicide, (2) the study data must be quantitative, and (3) the study must report data on posttraumatic or stress-related growth. The original review conducted its search before 2019; thus, this updated review searched databases for the timeframe of January 2019 to January 2024. The updated meta-analysis will synthesize data from both the original and updated reviews to examine trends over time. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) will be used to assess publication quality. Random-effects meta-analyses will be conducted using RStudio (R Foundation for Statistical Computing). The review was funded in October 2023 and is currently in progress. Results are expected to be finalized in October 2024. There are 21 articles that have been included in the review and are being analyzed at this time. We aim to submit the full article for publication in December 2024. The results of this updated systematic review and meta-analysis will be used to examine key relationships and findings regarding posttraumatic growth in individuals bereaved by suicide. The discussion will also investigate the findings of this updated review in comparison to the findings of the original review. Any differences would be highlighted. Limitations of the current review will be discussed, such as the quality of the articles included. PROSPERO CRD42024485421; https://tinyurl.com/3hzpnzr3. DERR1-10.2196/64615.

Several theories propose that health-related adversity threatens an individual’s worldviews, goals, and sense of purpose, which motivates them to search for meaning. This process is believed to lead to positive adjustment and personal growth. The purpose of our study was to (a) examine whether a health-related adversity motivated a search for meaning, (b) explore the ways individuals made sense of their health-related adversity, and (c) examine whether meaning making was related to acceptance, subjective well-being (positive affect, negative affect, satisfaction with life), and posttraumatic growth (PTG). Using a mixed-methods design, we collected data from 317 adults diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Participants completed a survey online. The survey included a set of validated measures that assessed acceptance, psychological adjustment, and PTG, as well as several open-ended questions. Approximately 85% of participants reported asking why me? Of those who reported that they found meaning, our thematic analysis revealed five meaning-making themes: catalyst for personal growth, self-blame, divine intervention, genetics, and chance. Our profile analysis compared three meaning-making groups (i.e., found meaning, still searching, found no meaning/not searching) and revealed that individuals who found meaning reported more positive affect and perceived more PTG than individuals still searching or who had not found meaning. Our data support theories of growth that suggest meaning making plays an important role in adjusting to adversity. We discuss cognitive and narrative-type therapeutic approaches that rehabilitation counselors could apply when supporting individuals coping with chronic illnesses.

The negative biopsychosocial outcomes associated with exposure to victimization are well-known, however, limited research has examined the protective factors that can enhance well-being and growth following polyvictimization from in-person and digital sources. This study examines the contribution of adversities and a range of psychological and social strengths on perceptions of subjective well-being and posttraumatic growth (PTG). A sample of 478 individuals aged 12-75 (57.5% female; Mage = 36.44) from a largely rural Appalachian region of the United States completed a survey on victimization experiences, other adversities, psychosocial strengths, subjective well-being, and PTG. Approximately 93.3% of individuals reported at least one digital or in-person victimization, with 82.8% reporting two or more forms of victimization. Hierarchical logistic regression analyses indicated that strengths explained more than three times the variance in subjective well-being and PTG compared to adversities, with both models explaining about half of the variance in these outcomes (49% and 50%, respectively). Psychological endurance, sense of purpose, teacher support, and polystrengths were significantly associated with better well-being and/or PTG. Some strengths hold more promise than others for promoting well-being and PTG following polyvictimization. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The combat experience of military and demobilized persons combines the influence of combat and non-combat stressors with combat conditions and stressors associated with being in the combat zone, which leads to severe personal injury, symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder and severe stress adaptive capacity. The resource of mastering combat stress is vitality, which is confirmed by the general viable position of the subjects, focused on effective self-development. Combatants show marked signs of maladaptation, but half of them report an increase in the value of life, spiritual growth and a general trend of personal growth, with women significantly exceeding men in terms of increasing personal strength. The aim of the research is to reveal the indicators of posttraumatic growth and personality rehabilitative resources of combatants and demobilized servicemen. Therefore, the posttraumatic growth of combatants goes hand in hand with attempts to adapt to a difficult situation. The main strategies for resisting stress in these conditions are cognition and recourse to physical activity. It is the resource of physical activity that is significantly positively correlated with indicators of posttraumatic personal growth. Personality posttraumatic growth indicators have been substantiated: change in attitude toward others, emergence of new opportunities, increase in strength of personality, spiritual changes, increase in the value of life, and general posttraumatic growth. The resource of rehabilitation potential, which is little used, is the appeal to the sphere of imagination and emotional sphere. The military does not sufficiently use the resources of faith and search for social support, which in crisis conditions are productive strategies. Sustainability is an important component of personal rehabilitation potential, but at this stage of a difficult situation, the personal resources involved are a person’s activity in overcoming difficulties, his/her desire to act and win, the desire not to lose this meaning, to express their personal potential.

Background: This study aimed to enhance post-traumatic growth in young breast cancer patients by providing them with self-disclosure and social support resources, to reduce intrusive rumination and increase deliberate rumination. This study was conducted at a university-based cancer center in Seoul, South Korea. The study included a four-week group-based psychoeducational program, which supported the post-traumatic personal growth of breast cancer patients. The primary outcome was increased post-traumatic growth, and the secondary outcomes were rumination, distress, and traumatic perception. Methods: The study included 38 young breast cancer patients, with a mean age of 42.21 years and mean time since diagnosis of 13.84 months. Results: Results of the study revealed statistically significant improvements in total post-traumatic growth and all subdomains, after the intervention (p < 0.001) and one month later (p < 0.001), as compared to the baseline. A significant improvement was also observed in deliberate rumination after the intervention (p = 0.038). Furthermore, the patients had a statistically significant decrease in anxiety, after the intervention (p = 0.035) and one month later (p = 0.005), as compared to the baseline. Conclusions: Overall, the program encourages activities that promote post-traumatic growth, enabling young breast cancer patients to return to their normal lives. Specifically, the growth allows patients to return to work and maintain a healthy body and mind. The results of this study indicate that this program can be used as an effective psychological intervention for young breast cancer patients.

Posttraumatic Growth: Positive Changes in the Aftermath of Crisis

Background. Although breast cancer (BC) may have negative psychological sequelae, it may also be experienced as an existential challenge, which can derive personal growth. Only one study has been conducted, however, on whether women with BC experience more post-traumatic growth (PTG) than BC-free women. We examined PTG in women with and without BC and whether the characteristics and treatment of BC were associated with PTG. Material and methods. We used data from the questionnaire administered in the Diet, Cancer and Health cohort and included 774 women with BC and 666 randomly sampled BC-free women aged 63–81 years. PTG was measured with the PTG inventory, for which the women identified their own traumatic or life-changing event. Linear regression was used to compare PTG in women with and without BC and to examine the association between BC characteristics and treatment and PTG. Results. Although women with BC experienced significantly more PTG in the domains ‘appreciation of life’ and ‘relating to others’ compared to BC-free women, no statistically significant difference in overall PTG was observed according to BC status, indicating that PTG is not limited to women with BC. Tumor size, number of positive lymph nodes, having undergone mastectomy and having received endocrine treatment were positively associated with overall PTG and/or specific PTG domains, implying that the severity of disease plays a role in the development of PTG. Conclusion. In order to avoid unnecessary pressure for personal growth, healthcare professionals should not expect that women with BC experience more PTG than BC-free women.

This study examines how the appearance of post-traumatic growth as a result of a traumatic event is affected by the extent to which the experiencing self dominates the narrating self (concepts introduced by Franz Stanzel). The experiencing self describes its feelings, needs, and desires, and reveals its own attitudes toward the situation and its circumstances. The narrating self aims to give a detailed account of the event, circumstances and its own actions, without saying much about its emotional state. Seventy-eight Polish women were asked to recount their traumatic experiences and answer questions about how the experience had affected their thinking about themselves and their world-view. The participants narratives were analyzed in terms of the dominance of either the experiencing self or the narrating self, or their possible balance. The participants also filled out questionnaires to measure post-traumatic growth and sense of purpose in life. The qualitative analysis suggested that greater post-traumatic growth was reported by women for whom the experiencing self either dominated in the narratives over the narrating self, or was balanced with the equally developed story of the narrating self. However, the quantitative analysis distinguished only between the experiencing self and narrating self positions, with the former demonstrating greater post-traumatic growth, whereas narratives that balanced both voices were intermediate in the comparison and were not distinguished from the other more pure positions. Taken as a whole, results support the inference that narration from an emotion-focused internal perspective facilitates personal growth in the face of very difficult life events.

&lt;p&gt;The purpose of this study was to assess for posttraumatic growth (PTG) in individuals with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This study also sought to determine the relationship between PTG and mindfulness for people with RA. RA is a degenerative disease characterized by chronic joint pain and is associated with various kinds of psychological distress, including depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. More recently, researchers have looked to ways in which living with RA may also promote personal growth. One of the most commonly researched conceptualizations of growth following hardship is posttraumatic growth (PTG). Some studies suggest that PTG may be positively related to mindfulness, such that people who are more mindful also experience more growth following adversity. The present study examines the extent to which people report experiencing growth as a result of living with RA, as well as participants’ levels of trait or dispositional mindfulness. Descriptive data are presented for all gathered data and the relationship between PTG and mindfulness was examined. Results of this study suggested that people with RA report moderate levels of PTG as a result of navigating this difficult disease. Findings also indicated no significant relationship between PTG and trait mindfulness for this sample of people with RA. Both PTG and trait mindfulness were significantly related to participants’ pain severity, however. The results of this study add to a small body of literature suggesting that people with RA do experience PTG. Understanding the correlates of PTG following RA will help physicians and psychologists maximize opportunities for positive adjustment above and beyond premorbid levels of functioning for those living with RA. This study’s findings also point to the importance of continuing to investigate the relationship between PTG and mindfulness.&lt;/p&gt;

This study assessed posttraumatic growth (PTG) across multiple trauma types and by demographic characteristics (i.e., sex, age, education). Moreover, we examined the association between PTG and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms as well as the characteristics and predictors of PTG after sexual violence. A phone survey was conducted in a nationally representative sample of 1,766 Icelandic adults. In total, 1,528 individuals reported having experienced some form of trauma and were included in the analysis, and 563 reported experiencing sexual violence. Interpersonal trauma (e.g., sexual violence, emotional abuse, and domestic violence) was associated with the highest levels of PTG. Moderate levels of PTSD symptoms were associated with the highest levels of PTG, whereas high- or low-level PTSD symptoms were related to less PTG. Women reported significantly more PTG than men, d = 0.16 and survivors of sexual violence reported significantly more PTG than individuals who reported other forms of trauma exposure, d = 0.28. Among sexual violence survivors, no demographic factors were associated with PTG, but cumulative trauma and positive social reactions were significantly related to higher levels of PTG. This study highlights that personal growth can result from aversive experiences and suggests a curvilinear association between PTG and PTSDsymptoms.

Introduction. The study of personal factors in overcoming the negative impact of traumatic events on life and education and scientific performance of PhD students appears very relevant in the conditions of the war in Ukraine. Aim. To empirically determine the nature of the relationship between PhD students' life satisfaction and post-traumatic growth during the resumption of studies after the deoccupation. Methods. Narrative interview «The Impact of War Stress on Your Life», "Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale» (Zigmond &amp; Snaith), «Life Satisfaction Scale» (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, Griffin), and «Post-Traumatic Growth Scale» (Tedeschi &amp; Calhoun). The collected qualitative material was subject to content analysis according to predetermined criteria. The Pearson correlation analysis was used for statistical data processing. Results. A moderate positive relationship was established between PhD students' life satisfaction and the integral indicator of post-traumatic personality growth. There were close significant relationships between PhD students' life satisfaction and their post-traumatic growth in the "value of life" and "value of relationships" areas. Conclusions. Psychological support for PhD students in war conditions should be aimed at supporting their recovery and growth resources, which include productive coping, acceptance of reality, and positive reinterpretation of traumatic experience.

The aim of the study was to identify relations between coping strategies applied in a situation of confrontation with stressful situation and post-traumatic growth (PTG) in the group of paramedics, and to analyze moderating effects of specific self-efficacy and affectivity.Sample: 62 paramedics, between age 21-53 (M = 35.91,SD = 8.97).Methods

Over the past two decades, positive psychology research has identified correlates of resilience. Although a range of strengths have been explored, there is a need to identify specific strengths that best support individuals to thrive after interpersonal trauma and adversity. This study assessed the contribution of 24 strengths from the Values in Action (VIA) positive psychology survey, alongside five other measures of strengths identified from resilience research, to identify those that show most promise. In total, 1,440 adults from the United Kingdom and Ireland completed the online VIA survey, and questions on five psychosocial strengths (ecoconnections, mindfulness, psychological endurance, sense of purpose, and social support), adversities (interpersonal victimization and institutional betrayal), and current functioning (subjective well-being, posttraumatic growth, and health-related quality of life). In the first U.K. and Ireland study to assess institutional betrayal alongside other interpersonal adversities and a range of resiliency factors, participants reported high rates of victimization and other trauma. Strengths accounted for greater proportions of variance in all three outcomes compared to adversities. Hope and zest were significantly and positively associated with all three outcomes. Sense of purpose, gratitude, social support, mindfulness, psychological endurance, spirituality, and self-regulation were positively related to at least one outcome. Humor, spirituality, fairness, and leadership were associated with worse functioning in some analyses. Some strengths are more helpful than others for overcoming adversity, and could serve as useful targets for intervention to mitigate the burden of interpersonal adversity. Further work is needed to understand the complexities of strengths on resilience in global contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).