Personal Growth Initiative Across Campus Settings

Robitschek, Christine; Thoen, Megan A.

doi:10.1037/e564262014-001

Cited by 3 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Students who are hopeful for the future (believing that one can achieve one's goals and knowing how to achieve them), who experience meaningfulness in life (comprehending the meaning of one's life, perceiving significance in one's existence, and having a purpose and direction), and who actively pursue growth (by getting prepared for growth, seeking social support for growth, initiating growth actions, and being planful for how to grow) demonstrate faster rates of psychological growth, even after considering other individual difference predictors. The current findings add new evidence to previous studies showing the important roles played by meaning (e.g., George & Park, 2017), hope (e.g., Gallagher & Lopez, 2009), and personal growth initiative (e.g., Robitschek & Thoen, 2015) in college students' positive functioning.…”

Section: Individual Differences Contributing To the Rate Of Psycholog...supporting

confidence: 84%

Measuring the rate of psychological growth and examining its antecedents: A growth curve modeling approach

Zhang

Little

2023

Journal of Personality

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IntroductionHumanistic psychologists have conceptualized a tendency among humans to experience continual open‐ended psychological growth. This study aims to measure the rate at which one grows psychologically using a novel growth curve modeling approach that addresses previous limitations. We also examine the effects of nine potential contributors to growth identified from the literature.MethodThroughout the freshman year, 556 college students responded six times. Increments of growth were added up to create cumulative growth, which was then fit to a growth curve model to produce an estimate of the growth rate. The growth rate was then regressed on the Time 1 predictors to examine their unique effects.ResultsModels fit well. Five predictors significantly predicted the growth rate after controlling for the average of other predictors. When all predictors were entered simultaneously, three predictors (hope, meaning, and personal growth initiative) showed significant unique effects. The growth rate predicted well‐being and satisfaction at Time 6.ConclusionWe successfully measured the rate of psychological growth and examined its antecedents. Follow‐up analyses suggested that the predictors not showing unique effects may indirectly predict growth rates via the proximal role of the three significant predictors, an idea that awaits future corroboration using within‐individual designs.

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Section: Individual Differences Contributing To the Rate Of Psycholog...supporting

confidence: 84%

Measuring the rate of psychological growth and examining its antecedents: A growth curve modeling approach

Zhang

Little

2023

Journal of Personality

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“…They reported low PGI and high PTSS. This group’s means for RFC and PL were ∼0.5 SD below the means, and UR was ∼0.3 SD below the means of the college students (Robitschek, 2014). Subgroup 2’s PTSS means resembled means for veterans in the VA Health Care System (Bovin et al, 2016).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 75%

“…Means and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the PGI and PTSS subscales are presented in Table 3 for each subgroup. We compared the observed means with normative data from other studies (see Table 4; Ashbaugh, Houle-Johnson, Herbert, El-Hage, & Brunet, 2016; Bovin et al, 2016; Robitschek, 2014; Robitschek et al, 2012). Subgroup 1 comprised ∼32% of the sample.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coping flexibility and trauma appraisal predict patterns of posttraumatic stress and personal growth initiative in student trauma survivors.

Shigemoto

Robitschek

2021

International Journal of Stress Management

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Exposure to a potentially traumatic event is not uncommon among college students, and following a traumatic event, college students cope and experience stress in heterogeneous patterns. The purpose of the current study was to (a) identify the patterns of personal growth initiative (PGI;Robitschek et al., 2012) skills and posttraumatic stress symptoms among college students who experienced a potentially traumatic event and (b) examine potential predictors (i.e., coping flexibility and stress appraisals) of membership in these different groups. Participants were 656 college students who experienced a traumatic event within the past 5 years. Data collection occurred from April 2016 to January 2017. Finite mixture modeling was conducted to identify the patterns of posttraumatic stress symptoms and PGI skills. Coping flexibility and stress appraisals (i.e., threat, challenge, centrality, and present control) were used as predictors of membership in the groups displaying these patterns, statistically controlling for demographic and trauma characteristics (i.e., gender, age, months since trauma, number of types of trauma, directedness, and intentionality). Three distinct patterns were identified. Coping flexibility and stress appraisals were significant predictors of group membership. This study highlights the complex interrelationship of PGI skills and posttraumatic stress responses and identifies benefits of assessing coping flexibility and perceptions of the potentially traumatic event when working with trauma survivors.

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“…Joo et al (2020) found that PGI was positively related to person-organization fit, authentic leadership, and work empowerment in South Korean telecommunication employees. Finally, Robitschek and Thoen (2015) provided a literature review on PGI's positive relations to academic success and both social and psychological well-being in college students.…”

Section: Pgi Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This measure might be used by faculty, staff, and counselors in German university settings to assist students in recognizing and developing PGI, perhaps as part of a first-year seminar or during counseling sessions. Robitschek and Thoen (2015) outline ways that culture can be infused into these types of activities, such as being aware of how diverse individuals conceptualize what it means to be a "good student" (p. 233).…”

Section: Implications For Practice Advocacy Education Training and Re...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Translation and Validation of the German Personal Growth Initiative Scale – II

Weigold,

Ethridge

et al. 2023

The Counseling Psychologist

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Personal growth initiative (PGI) is an important predictor of well-being. In the current study, we translated the Personal Growth Initiative Scale–II (PGIS-II) into German and investigated its psychometric properties. Our sample consisted of 210 adults gathered from Germany’s Mechanical Turk. The German PGIS-II showed evidence of a bifactor structure, with the total score providing the best representation. Results also indicated measurement invariance through the partial scalar level with the English PGIS-II given to a sample of 854 college students in the United States. The PGIS-II’s scores were positively related to general self-efficacy, internal locus of control, and positive affect, as well as evidenced small relations with external locus of control, negative affect, stress, and social desirability. Together, the results showed evidence for the psychometric properties of the German PGIS-II and the potential importance of PGI in German samples.

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Personal Growth Initiative Across Campus Settings

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Measuring the rate of psychological growth and examining its antecedents: A growth curve modeling approach

Measuring the rate of psychological growth and examining its antecedents: A growth curve modeling approach

Coping flexibility and trauma appraisal predict patterns of posttraumatic stress and personal growth initiative in student trauma survivors.

Translation and Validation of the German Personal Growth Initiative Scale – II

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