Posttraumatic Growth in U.S. Latinos

Post‐traumatic growth among an ethnically diverse sample of adolescent and young adult cancer survivors

“…In this study, Hispanic cancer survivors who came from English‐speaking homes had significantly lower PTG scores compared with other groups, including Hispanic survivors who came from Spanish‐speaking homes. This finding has not been previously reported among childhood cancer survivors; however, it corroborates previous findings among Hispanic women, where those who were more highly immersed in the dominant culture reported lower PTG scores compared with those who were less acculturated . Specifically among Hispanic adult cancer patients, one study has found a strong relationship between higher PTG and coping approaches involving spirituality and religion .…”

“…For example, Hispanics tend to report more positive adjustment to cancer . Hispanics generally tend to place greater emphasis on family support and religious coping strategies; two health protective factors that may explain why Hispanics report higher levels of PTG compared with non‐Hispanics . Furthermore, Hispanics who are more highly acculturated to dominant culture in the United States tend to report lower levels of PTG compared with their less acculturated counterparts .…”

“…Hispanics generally tend to place greater emphasis on family support and religious coping strategies; two health protective factors that may explain why Hispanics report higher levels of PTG compared with non‐Hispanics . Furthermore, Hispanics who are more highly acculturated to dominant culture in the United States tend to report lower levels of PTG compared with their less acculturated counterparts . In pediatric oncology, the current understanding of ethnic differences in patterns of adjustment, resiliency, and psychosocial outcomes is limited because of the low diversity of patients recruited for psychosocial studies .…”

Burmese Refugee Women in the Midwest: Narratives of Resilience and Posttraumatic Growth

“…Culture, after all, plays a significant role in one’s struggle with traumatic events, including the perception of what is stressful and how to cope, as well as how one is changed as a result of the struggle. Although some essence of PTG holds true across all cultures, it may also be expressed uniquely across different cultural groups embedded in various sociocultural contexts (Berger & Weiss, 2010; Ho et al, 2004). In the cross-cultural literature, active and problem-focused coping strategies, characterized by working efforts to deal with the problem or subsequent emotions, are strongly associated with PTG (Taku, 2010), whereas coping by avoidance is negatively associated with PTG (Ho et al, 2004; Weiss & Berger, 2010), suggesting that not all coping efforts result in PTG.…”