Post-traumatic growth as positive personality change: developing a measure to assess within-person variability

Blackie, Laura E.R.; Jayawickreme, Eranda; Tsukayama, Eli; Forgeard, Marie, J.C.; Roepke, Ann Marie; Fleeson, William

Abstract

Earlier work has defined post-traumatic growth (PTG) as positive personality change, but measurement of this construct has relied almost exclusively on cross-sectional and retrospective assessments. The aim of this study was to use an experience-sampling procedure to measure the extent to which PTG manifested in individuals’ everyday lives after a recent highly stressful or traumatic adverse event (compared to a control group). In doing so, we developed a state measure of PTG. The factor structure of state PTG was comparable to trait PTG, there was significant variability in individuals’ PTG from moment-to-moment, but individuals’ trait PTG was unrelated to their state PTG. Moreover, individuals who had experienced a recent adversity did not differ from control participants on state PTG.

Citation

Blackie, L. E., Jayawickreme, E., Tsukayama, E., Forgeard, M. J., Roepke, A. M., & Fleeson, W. (in press). Post-traumatic growth as positive personality change: developing a measure to assess within-person variability. Journal of Research in Personality, 69, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2016.04.001

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 19, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Apr 21, 2016
• Deposit Date: Sep 22, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 22, 2016
• Journal: Journal of Research in Personality
• Print ISSN: 0092-6566
• Electronic ISSN: 0092-6566
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 69
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2016.04.001
• Keywords: Post-traumatic growth, Adversity, Experience-sampling, Daily well-being
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/784107
• Publisher URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092656616300174