Post-traumatic growth among 5195 adolescents at 8.5 years after exposure to the Wenchuan earthquake: Roles of post-traumatic stress disorder and self-esteem
Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online November, 2021
Post-traumatic growth among 5195 adolescents at 8.5 years after exposure to the Wenchuan earthquake: Roles of post-traumatic stress disorder and self-esteem
We evaluated the level of post-traumatic growth in a large sample of Chinese adolescent earthquake survivors (n = 5195) and relationships among self-esteem, post-traumatic stress disorder, and post-traumatic growth. This cross-sectional study indicated that the prevalence of post-traumatic growth among adolescent survivors was 14.8 percent. Post-traumatic growth was independently associated with self-esteem, severity of exposures, and avoidance facets of post-traumatic stress disorder. Post-traumatic stress disorder was found to be partially mediated by self-esteem on post-traumatic growth; and post-traumatic stress disorder was also a mediator between earthquake exposure and post-traumatic growth. This study suggests that future longitudinal research and clinical practice should test whether promoting self-esteem can enhance post-traumatic stress disorder treatment.
ArbuckleJL (2011) Amos 20 User’s Guide. Chicago, IL: SPSS Inc.
2.
American Psychiatric Association (2013) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5®). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.
3.
BaralIABhagawatiK (2019) Post traumatic stress disorder and coping strategies among adult survivors of earthquake, Nepal. BMC Psychiatry19(1): 118.
4.
BensimonM (2012) Elaboration on the association between trauma, PTSD and posttraumatic growth: The role of trait resilience. Personality and Individual Differences52(7): 782–787.
5.
BistrickySLLongLJLaiBS, et al. (2019) Surviving the storm: Avoidant coping, helping behavior, resilience and affective symptoms around a major hurricane-flood. Journal of Affective Disorders257: 297–306.
6.
BrailovskaiaJForkmannTGlaesmerH, et al. (2019) Positive mental health moderates the association between suicide ideation and suicide attempts. Journal of Affective Disorders245: 246–249.
7.
BrissetteIScheierMFCarverCS (2002) The role of optimism in social network development, coping, and psychological adjustment during a life transition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology82(1): 102–111.
8.
BrownJDMarshallMA (2001) Self-esteem and emotion: Some thoughts about feelings. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin27(5): 575–584.
9.
CalhounLGTedeschiRG (2004) Authors’ response: “The foundations of posttraumatic growth: New considerations.”Psychological Inquiry15(1): 93–102.
10.
ChapmanPLMullisRL (1999) Adolescent coping strategies and self-esteem. Child Study Journal29(1): 69–69.
11.
DekelSEin-DorTSolomonZ (2012) Posttraumatic growth and posttraumatic distress: A longitudinal study. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy4(1): 94–101.
12.
DolbierCLJaggarsSSSteinhardtMA (2010) Stress-related growth: Pre-intervention correlates and change following a resilience intervention. Stress and Health: Journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress26(2): 135–147.
13.
DonnellanMBTrzesniewskiKHRobinsRW, et al. (2005) Low self-esteem is related to aggression, antisocial behavior, and delinquency. Psychological Science16(4): 328–335.
14.
DuBMaXOuX, et al. (2018) The prevalence of posttraumatic stress in adolescents eight years after the Wenchuan earthquake. Psychiatry Research262: 262–269.
15.
DumontMProvostMA (1999) Resilience in adolescents: Protective role of social support, coping strategies, self-esteem, and social activities on experience of stress and depression. Journal of Youth and Adolescence28(3): 343–363.
16.
FrazierPConlonAGlaserT (2001) Positive and negative life changes following sexual assault. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology69(6): 1048–1055.
HuL-tBentlerPM (1998) Fit indices in covariance structure modeling: Sensitivity to underparameterized model misspecification. Psychological Methods3(4): 424–453.
19.
HungerbuehlerIVollrathMELandoltMA (2011) Posttraumatic growth in mothers and fathers of children with severe illnesses. Journal of Health Psychology16(8): 1259–1267.
20.
JinLWenMFanJX, et al. (2012) Trans-local ties, local ties and psychological well-being among rural-to-urban migrants in Shanghai. Social Science & Medicine75(2): 288–296.
21.
JoukamaaMTaanilaAMiettunenJ, et al. (2007) Epidemiology of alexithymia among adolescents. Journal of Psychosomatic Research63(4): 373–376.
22.
Kesnold MesidorJ (2019) Posttraumatic growth in the 2010 Haitian earthquake survivors and its relationship with posttraumatic stress symptoms three years after the earthquake. Journal of Loss and Trauma24: 678–690.
23.
KleimBEhlersA (2009) Evidence for a curvilinear relationship between posttraumatic growth and posttrauma depression and PTSD in assault survivors. Journal of Traumatic Stress: Official Publication of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies22(1): 45–52.
24.
KongFYouX (2013) Loneliness and self-esteem as mediators between social support and life satisfaction in late adolescence. Social Indicators Research110(1): 271–279.
25.
LauferASolomonZ (2006) Posttraumatic symptoms and posttraumatic growth among Israeli youth exposed to terror incidents. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology25(4): 429–447.
26.
LeviEBacharE (2019) The moderating role of narcissism on the relationship between posttraumatic growth and PTSD symptoms. Personality and Individual Differences138: 292–297.
27.
LinleyPAJosephS (2004) Positive change following trauma and adversity: A review. Journal of Traumatic Stress: Official Publication of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies17(1): 11–21.
28.
LiuXKuritaHUchiyamaM, et al. (2000) Life events, locus of control, and behavioral problems among Chinese adolescents. Journal of Clinical Psychology56(12): 1565–1577.
29.
LiuXLiuLYangJ, et al. (1997) Reliability and validity of the adolescents self-rating life events checklist. Chinese Journal of Clinical Psychology5(1): 34–36.
30.
LoweSRManoveEERhodesJE (2013) Posttraumatic stress and posttraumatic growth among low-income mothers who survived Hurricane Katrina. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology81(5): 877–889.
31.
McCaslinSEde ZoysaPButlerLD, et al. (2009) The relationship of posttraumatic growth to peritraumatic reactions and posttraumatic stress symptoms among Sri Lankan university students. Journal of Traumatic Stress: Official Publication of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies22(4): 334–339.
32.
MaedaMKatoHMaruokaT (2009) Adolescent vulnerability to PTSD and effects of community-based intervention: Longitudinal study among adolescent survivors of the Ehime Maru sea accident. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences63(6): 747–753.
33.
MaerckerAZoellnerT (2004) The Janus face of self-perceived growth: Toward a two-component model of posttraumatic growth. Psychological Inquiry15(1): 41–48.
34.
MoksnesUKMoljordIEEspnesGA, et al. (2010) The association between stress and emotional states in adolescents: The role of gender and self-esteem. Personality and Individual Differences49(5): 430–435.
35.
PerrinSMeiser-StedmanRSmithP (2005) The Children’s Revised Impact of Event Scale (CRIES): Validity as a screening instrument for PTSD. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy33(4): 487–498.
36.
Rodríguez-ReyRPalaciosAAlonso-TapiaJ, et al. (2017) Posttraumatic growth in pediatric intensive care personnel: Dependence on resilience and coping strategies. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy9(4): 407–415.
37.
RosenbergM (1986) Conceiving the Self. Malabar, FL: RE Krieger.
38.
RoussosAGoenjianAKSteinbergAM, et al. (2005) Posttraumatic stress and depressive reactions among children and adolescents after the 1999 earthquake in Ano Liosia, Greece. American Journal of Psychiatry162(3): 530–537.
39.
RyanRMStillerJDLynchJH (1994) Representations of relationships to teachers, parents, and friends as predictors of academic motivation and self-esteem. The Journal of Early Adolescence14(2): 226–249.
40.
SetliffAEMarmurekHH (2002) The mood regulatory function of autobiographical recall is moderated by self-esteem. Personality and Individual Differences32(4): 761–771.
41.
Shakespeare-FinchJLurie-BeckJ (2014) A meta-analytic clarification of the relationship between posttraumatic growth and symptoms of posttraumatic distress disorder. Journal of Anxiety Disorders28(2): 223–229.
42.
SharmaVMarinDBKoenigHK, et al. (2017) Religion, spirituality, and mental health of US military veterans: Results from the National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study. Journal of Affective Disorders217: 197–204.
43.
SolerLKirchnerTParetillaC, et al. (2013) Impact of poly-victimization on mental health: The mediator and/or moderator role of self-esteem. Journal of Interpersonal Violence28(13): 2695–2712.
44.
SolomonZDekelR (2007) Posttraumatic stress disorder and posttraumatic growth among Israeli ex-POWS. Journal of Traumatic Stress: Official Publication of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies20(3): 303–312.
45.
SteeleCM (1988) The psychology of self-affirmation: Sustaining the integrity of the self. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology21: 261–302.
46.
StocktonHHuntNJosephS (2011) Cognitive processing, rumination, and posttraumatic growth. Journal of Traumatic Stress24(1): 85–92.
47.
TakuKMcDiarmidL (2015) Personally important posttraumatic growth in adolescents: The effect on self-esteem beyond commonly defined posttraumatic growth. Journal of Adolescence44: 224–231.
48.
TanakaETsutsumiAKawakamiN, et al. (2016) Long-term psychological consequences among adolescent survivors of the Wenchuan earthquake in China: A cross-sectional survey six years after the disaster. Journal of Affective Disorders204: 255–261.
49.
TaylorSEArmorDA (1996) Positive illusions and coping with adversity. Journal of Personality64(4): 873–898.
50.
TedeschiRGCalhounLG (1996) The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory: Measuring the positive legacy of trauma. Journal of Traumatic Stress9(3): 455–471.
51.
TedeschiRGParkCLCalhounLG (1998) Posttraumatic growth: Conceptual issues posttraumatic growth. In: TedeschiRGParkCLCalhounLG (eds) Posttraumatic Growth: Positive Changes in the Aftermath of Crisis. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 1–22.
52.
TennenHHerzbergerS (1987) Depression, self-esteem, and the absence of self-protective attributional biases. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology52(1): 72–80.
53.
TetlockPELeviA (1982) Attribution bias: On the inconclusiveness of the cognition-motivation debate. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology18(1): 68–88.
54.
WuXKamingaACDaiW, et al. (2019) The prevalence of moderate-to-high posttraumatic growth: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders243: 408–415.
55.
YinXLiCJiangS (2017) The mediating effect of self-esteem on the relationship of living environment, anxiety, and depression of underprivileged children: A path analysis in Chinese context. Journal of Health Psychology. Epub ahead of print 8 November. DOI: 10.1177/1359105317739966.
56.
YuX-nLauJTZhangJ, et al. (2010) Posttraumatic growth and reduced suicidal ideation among adolescents at month 1 after the Sichuan Earthquake. Journal of Affective Disorders123(1–3): 327–331.
57.
ZhouXWuX (2016) The relationship between rumination, posttraumatic stress disorder, and posttraumatic growth among Chinese adolescents after earthquake: A longitudinal study. Journal of Affective Disorders193: 242–248.
58.
ZhouXWuXAnY, et al. (2014) Longitudinal relationships between posttraumatic stress symptoms and sleep problems in adolescent survivors following the Wenchuan earthquake in China. PLoS ONE9(8): e104470.
59.
ZhouXWuXZhenR (2018) Self-esteem and hope mediate the relations between social support and post-traumatic stress disorder and growth in adolescents following the Ya’an earthquake. Anxiety, Stress, & Coping31(1): 32–45.
60.
ZoellnerTMaerckerA (2006) Posttraumatic growth in clinical psychology—A critical review and introduction of a two component model. Clinical Psychology Review26(5): 626–653.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
