Middle school students in Wenchuan County (N = 354) were assessed 4.5 years after the Wenchuan earthquake to examine the effects of challenges to core beliefs, intrusive rumination, and deliberate rumination on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and posttraumatic growth (PTG). The results indicated that intrusive rumination partly mediated the relationship between challenges to core beliefs and PTSD, whereas deliberate rumination partly mediated both the relationship between challenges to core beliefs and PTG, as well as the relationship between intrusive rumination and PTG. These findings suggest that challenges to core beliefs had a direct positive impact on both PTSD and PTG. Moreover, such challenges predicted PTSD through intrusive rumination and predicted PTG through deliberate rumination. Furthermore, intrusive rumination might cue individuals to engage in a more purposive deliberate rumination process. These results indicate that PTSD and PTG are influenced by different mechanisms and that PTSD and PTG represent 2 separate dimensions of experience following adversity.

PurposeTo examine the associations between trauma severity, trait resilience, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depressive symptoms among adolescent survivors of the Wenchuan earthquake, China.Methods788 participants were randomly selected from secondary schools in the counties of Wenchuan and Maoxian, the two areas most severely affected by the earthquake. Participants completed four main questionnaires including the Child PTSD Symptom Scale, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale for Children, the Connor and Davidson’s Resilience Scale, and the Severity of Exposure to Earthquake Scale.ResultsAfter adjusting for the effect of age and gender, four aspects of trauma severity (i.e., direct exposure, indirect exposure, worry about others, and house damage) were positively associated with the severity of PTSD and depressive symptoms, whereas trait resilience was negatively associated with PTSD and depressive symptoms and moderated the relationship between subjective experience (i.e., worry about others) and PTSD and depressive symptoms.ConclusionsSeveral aspects (i.e., direct exposure, indirect exposure, worry about others, and house damage) of earthquake experiences may be important risk factors for the development and maintenance of PTSD and depression. Additionally, trait resilience exhibits the beneficial impact on PTSD and depressive symptoms and buffers the effect of subjective experience (i.e., worry about others) on PTSD and depressive symptoms.

PTSD and PTG had different predictive paths. Specifically, social support reduced PTSD through enhanced self-esteem and promoted PTG through hope, or through the path from self-esteem to hope.

Three hundred and seventy-six middle school students in Wenchuan County were assessed three and one-half years after the Wenchuan earthquake to examine the effects of rumination on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and posttraumatic growth (PTG). The results revealed that recent intrusive ruminations partly mediated the relationship between intrusive rumination soon after the earthquake with PTSD but not with PTG. Recent deliberate rumination partly mediated the relationship between intrusive rumination soon after the earthquake and PTG but not PTSD. Moreover, recent deliberate rumination also partly mediated the relationship between recent intrusive rumination with PTG but not with PTSD. Overall, intrusive rumination soon after the earthquake had an effect on PTSD but not on PTG through recent intrusive rumination and affected PTG but not PTSD through deliberate recent rumination. Furthermore, intrusive rumination soon after the earthquake affected PTG but not PTSD by recent deliberate rumination following recent intrusive rumination. More importantly, the present study also found that PTSD exhibited no relation to PTG. These results suggest that PTSD and PTG are influenced by different mechanisms, which further indicates that PTSD and PTG represent two separate dimensions of experience after adversity.

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(2020) Rumination mediates the relationships of fear and guilt to posttraumatic stress disorder and posttraumatic growth among adolescents after the Ya'an earthquake,

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to examine the relationships among extraversion, social support, posttraumatic stress disorder and posttraumatic growth among adolescent survivors of the Wenchuan earthquake.MethodsSix hundred thirty-eight participants were selected from the survivors of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. Participants completed four main questionnaires, including the Extraversion Subscale, the Social Support Scale, the Child PTSD Symptom Scale, and the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory.ResultsA bivariate correlation analysis revealed significant correlations among extraversion, social support, posttraumatic stress disorder and posttraumatic growth. Extraversion had significant indirect effects on posttraumatic stress disorder (β = −.037, p < .01) and posttraumatic growth (β = .077, p < .001) through social support. The results also indicated that extraversion had a significant direct effect on posttraumatic growth and a nonsignificant direct effect on posttraumatic stress disorder.ConclusionsSocial support fully mediates the relationship between extraversion and posttraumatic stress disorder and partially mediates the relationship between extraversion and posttraumatic growth. Psychological interventions and care for survivors of the earthquake should include the various functions and sources of social support and how they serve to benefit individuals.