There is growing recognition that the experience of cancer can have a positive as well as a negative psychological impact. This longitudinal study sought to identify predictors of posttraumatic growth among cancer patients (N ϭ 72) undergoing bone marrow transplantation. Greater posttraumatic growth in the posttransplant period was related to younger age; less education; greater use of positive reinterpretation, problem solving, and seeking alternative rewards as coping strategies in the pretransplant period; more stressful appraisal of aspects of the transplant experience; and more negatively biased recall of pretransplant levels of psychological distress. Findings partially support J. A. Schaefer and R. H. Moos's (1992) model of life crises and personal growth and also suggest that temporal self-comparisons contribute to the experience of posttraumatic growth.

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Results of the present study confirm and extend prior research regarding the prevalence of PTSD and PTSD symptoms among patients treated for cancer. In addition, the study identified a set of theoretically derived psychological characteristics that seem to place patients at risk for greater PTSD symptomatology after BMT.

Comparisons with previous research suggest that rates of PTSD are higher among women who undergo ABMT as opposed to less intensive forms of breast cancer treatment. These findings are consistent with the view that development of PTSD symptoms is associated with the degree of life threat. The clinical significance of PTSD in this patient population is underscored by findings indicating that greater PTSD symptoms are associated with poorer health-related quality of life.