Are predictions and perceptions of post-traumatic growth a form of ultimate justice reasoning?

Harvey, Annelie J; Blackie, Laura E R

Abstract

Researchers have questioned whether self-report questionnaires adequately assess post-traumatic growth (PTG), as it was theorized (positive personality change after trauma), versus assessing a broader coping mechanism. Across four studies, we examine whether individuals report PTG as a coping mechanism to restore a sense of justice. In Studies 1 and 2, participants predicted greater PTG for a hypothetical victim after a severe accident that caused grave suffering (and disrupted one’s belief in a just world; BJW), compared to an accident that caused minimal suffering (and did not disrupt one’s BJW). Both perceptions of deservingness of PTG for the victim (a BJW mechanism) and engagement in deliberative rumination (a PTG mechanism) mediated the effect of suffering on the prediction of PTG in Study 2. The same pattern of results held when participants considered their own imagined suffering (Study 3), and when participants reported PTG from distressing events in their own lives (Study 4). As such, we conclude that following an episode of suffering, either occurring to another or to oneself, selfreports of PTG on questionnaires can reflect two distinct motivations: (1) an attempt to cope with perceived injustices and (2) the will to search for meaning in one’s suffering.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 1, 2021
• Online Publication Date: May 21, 2021
• Publication Date: Jul 1, 2021
• Deposit Date: Mar 26, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: May 22, 2022
• Journal: European Journal of Personality
• Print ISSN: 0890-2070
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 36
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 443-465
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/08902070211014030
• Keywords: Post-traumatic Growth, Ultimate Justice Reasoning, Deservingness, Deliberative Rumination, Belief in a Just World
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5417660
• Publisher URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/08902070211014030