| Posttraumatic growth refers to the idea that people transform in positive ways following a traumatic event. While the concept that trauma can lead to positive outcomes is not new, psychological research in this area is limited, and little is known about the mechanisms through which such growth occurs. One hypothesis is that cognitive processing plays a key role in growth (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2003). Specifically, it has been suggested that particular types of posttraumatic reflection, such as future oriented thinking, search for meaning, problem solving, and acceptance of the event, are likely to influence perceptions of growth. The current study is concerned with testing this hypothesis, along with the hypothesis that tendencies to ruminate, suppress unwanted thoughts, and self-reflect will influence individual difference in posttraumatic reflection. The role of coping and crisis support will also be examined in relation to rumination and subsequent growth. One-hundred and twenty-nine participants were recruited from the Missoula community and the University of Montana student population. Individuals who had experienced a serious motor vehicle accident, injury or property damage due to fire, severe weather, a natural or a human-made disaster, a serious work-related or recreational accident, the sudden death of a close friend or family member, having had something taken by force or threat of force, a physical assault, or a sexual assault within the past 3 years were asked to complete measures of thought suppression, rumination and self-reflection, crisis social support, coping behaviors, posttraumatic symptoms and growth, and posttraumatic reflection. As expected, trait level rumination and thought suppression were positively related to each other, and negatively related to current symptoms. Surprisingly, neither trait-level rumination nor thought suppression were related to posttraumatic reflection, and most aspects of constructive posttraumatic reflection did not predict growth. Crisis social support, approach, reappraisal, and emotion regulation coping, and level of subjective distress were positively associated with growth. Additionally, aspects of posttraumatic reflection associated with searching for understanding in the event were positively related to both symptoms and growth. Limitations of the use of cross-sectional design and self-report measures are discussed, along with implications of the unpredicted findings for future research. |
