A Network Analysis of the Associations Between Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and Posttraumatic Growth Among Disaster‐Exposed Chinese Young Adults

Abstract

Posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and posttraumatic growth (PTG) have been shown to coexist following exposure to a traumatic event, but consensus about what accounts for this association is lacking. Network analysis is a novel analytic method that can explain this linkage. In a sample of 1,809 Chinese college students (66.1% female, age range: 16–35 years) who were directly exposed to a typhoon, we investigated the network structure of PTSS and PTG, along with bridge symptoms and elements, to elucidate how distress and growth coexist. The seven strongest edges found in the model included two between elements in the PTSS cluster, one between elements of PTG, and four between elements of PTSS and PTG. Eight bridge symptoms and elements emerged: intrusive thoughts, emotional cue reactivity, hypervigilance, self‐destructive or reckless behavior, nightmares, and physiological cue reactivity among PTSS, and changed priorities and stronger religious faith among PTG elements. These findings reveal connections between PTSS and PTG that explain how these constructs may coexist in individuals exposed to natural disasters. The network perspective provides a novel way to conceptualize the association between PTSS and PTG and contributes to the field's understanding of recovery after traumatic events.

The Co-occurrence of Posttraumatic growth (PTG) and Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in cancer survivors from a network perspective

“…In the PTG network, better understanding of spiritual matters and stronger religious faith, changed life priorities and greater appreciation of the value of one's own life, finding new interests and new life path were the most strongly positively related. Other studies have also found a strong relationship between a better understanding of spiritual matters and stronger religious faith (Yuan et al, 2021;Peters et al, 2021;Bellet et al, 2018). Yuan et al (2021) have found a strong relationship between a new life path and new interests as well.…”

“…Other studies have also found a strong relationship between a better understanding of spiritual matters and stronger religious faith (Yuan et al, 2021;Peters et al, 2021;Bellet et al, 2018). Yuan et al (2021) have found a strong relationship between a new life path and new interests as well. In contrast to previous studies, the current study has found that changing life priorities and a greater appreciation of one's own life was strongly related.…”

“…This approach has also been useful in the study of comorbidity (Fried et al, 2017) between PTSD and other mental health issues such as depression, anxiety disorder and substance use disorder (Afzali, Sunderland, Batterham, et al, 2017;Afzali, Sunderland, Teesson, et al, 2017;Duek et al, 2021;Price et al, 2019). It has also been used in the study of various psychological phenomena, such as the occurrence of complicated grief and PTG (Bellet et al, 2018), or PTSD and PTG (Yuan et al, 2021). PTSD and PTG have been widely examined and well-documented phenomena in cancer patients (or cancer survivors) (Kou et al, 2021;Swartzman et al, 2017).…”

Cancer-related Posttraumatic growth and Posttraumatic stress: Different Correlates and Different Network Structure in Patients with Cancer and Cancer Survivors

“…While there is huge research interest in cancer-related PTSD and PTG, some questions remain open. Besides the discussed issues, there is also considerable heterogeneity in the findings examining the association between PTSD and PTG in terms of the relationship (Marziliano et al, 2020), latent profile (Liu et al, 2020;Zhou et al, 2020) and even network structure (Peters et al, 2021;Yuan et al, 2021). PTSD and PTG as common posttraumatic reactions can exist at the same time (Dekel et al, 2012).…”

“…Rather than examining a latent variable as a construct of symptoms that are independent of each other, the network approach makes it possible to identify indicators (symptoms) crucial for the development, maintenance and extinction of phenomena (McNally, 2016;McNally et al, 2015). In this sense, it offers a new possibility of how to examine PTSD, PTG and the interconnection (Peters et al, 2021;Yuan et al, 2021;Bellet et al, 2018).…”