What counts as positive growth following trauma? The conceptual difficulties of spiritual/religious change

Jayawickreme and Blackie refer frequently to 'positive' personality change following trauma, but avoid discussing ambiguities regarding what the word positive means in different domains, for example the area of spiritual/religious belief. Three of the most widely used post-traumatic growth measures specify that increased belief in God following trauma is indicative of positive change, and decreased theistic belief reflects negative change. Here I question this value judgement, propose conceptual clarification on what kinds of changes reflect growth, and suggest various criteria for evaluating post-traumatic change (or indeed any personality change) as positive

The example of adverse life experiences as unique situations

© 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology. There is a well-established tradition of assessing personality traits, and some of its principles may have parallels in assessment of situations. Trait measures are interpreted in terms of norms; situation assessments may require multiple judges to control perceiver effects. Internal consistency is monitored in trait research; inter-rater reliability should be reported in situation research. Personality scales typically assess traits rather than states; situational assessment might profitably concentrate on recurrent rather than one-time situations

Wisdom gained?: assessing relationships between adversity, personality and well-being among a late adolescent sample

How do late adolescents make sense of stressful life events they have experienced in their lives? College students (N = 1225) reported the stressful events they had experienced in their lifetime up until the present survey, and indicated whether they considered each stressful event to be a turning point and/or an opportunity for wisdom. Students also completed measures of personality and well-being. We hypothesized that the tendency to interpret stressful events as turning points or opportunities for wisdom would explain the associations between three personality characteristics (Openness to Experience, Extraversion, and Emotionality) and well-being. We used a multi-step ESEM approach in which we first assessed the measurement structure of our items before testing partial and complete structural models. We tested partial and structural models according to extant guidelines associated with the evaluation of indirect effects models. We did not find support for the indirect effects model, but Openness was associated with the tendency to view stressful events as turning points, and Openness and Extraversion were associated with the tendency to view stressful events as leading to wisdom, as well as with increased well-being

“I am Rwandan”: unity and reconciliation in post-genocide Rwanda

Drawing on a corpus of ten oral interviews with survivors and perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, we examine how the government’s policy of unity and reconciliation has shaped post-genocide identities and intergroup relations in local Rwandan communities. By focusing on the relationships between individuals and the national post-genocide narrative, we show how the socio-political context in Rwanda influences how people locate themselves and how they ascribe rights and duties to and in relation to others. Specifically, we use positioning theory as an interpretive lens to argue that individuals view adherence to the government’s post-genocide narrative of unity and reconciliation as a moral duty, which is vital to continued political stability and economic development in Rwanda. Our discussion focuses on explaining how the social positioning of the national post-genocide narrative may function to reinforce the ethnic tensions the government has pledged to eradicate

Trauma exposure and short-term volitional personality trait change

Objective: Research into post-traumatic growth (PTG) finds individuals report positive changes in their identity, relationships, and worldviews after trauma. In a pre-registered 16-week longitudinal study, we examined trait change after recent trauma exposure to test an operationalization of PTG as positive personality change. We examined the influence of intrapersonal and social factors including motivation to change traits, perceived social support, and event centrality. Method: Participants (n=1004) reported on trauma exposure in past 1-month, centrality of each traumatic event, and social support. Participants with trauma exposure (n=146) and a matched control group reported on their traits in 8 waves at 2-week intervals, and motivation to change traits in 3 waves. Results: Although some trait change was observed, it was not consistent with PTG. We found agreeableness declined in the trauma relative to the control group among participants who did not want to change in this trait. Conscientiousness declined for individuals with highly central traumas. Social support predicted increases in emotional stability, conscientiousness, and openness but only for individuals in the control group. Conclusions: We discuss the value of defining PTG as positive trait change and suggest future directions including assessment of facet-level changes and ideographic methods

Psychopathology and languishing are distinct

Halls-Simmons and McGrath have proposed that character strengths can moderate the impact that clinical symptoms have on functioning. This notion is reasonable in light of existing evidence. Specifically, we provide secondary analyses from data first presented in Blackie, Jayawickreme, Forgeard, & Jayawickreme (2015) suggesting that character strengths can moderate the impact of psychopathology on functioning. We argue however that this conceptual work should only the first step in developing a comprehensive model of how flourishing can be promoted and languishing avoided

Can people experience post-traumatic growth after committing violent acts?

The concept of post-traumatic growth refers to the positive psychological changes that some people experience as a result of their struggle with highly stressful and often traumatic circumstances. Research into post-traumatic growth has typically focused on survivors of violent victimisation or other uncontrollable and tragic circumstances. However, emerging research into service members in the armed forces has shown that post-traumatic growth can also occur in this population. We synthesise existing research to propose a preliminary model outlining the psychosocial processes that may facilitate post-traumatic growth among people who have perpetrated acts of violence. We end by discussing some of the important questions that future theoretical and empirical work will need to address

The protective function of personal growth initiative among a genocide-affected population in Rwanda

The aim of the current study was to investigate the extent to which individual differences in personal growth initiative (PGI) were associated with lower reports of functional impairment of daily activities among a genocide-affected population in Rwanda. PGI measures an individual’s motivation to develop as a person and the extent to which he or she is active in setting goals that work toward achieving self-improvement. We found that PGI was negatively associated with functional impairment when controlling for depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and other demographic factors. Our results suggest that PGI may constitute an important mindset for facilitating adaptive functioning in the aftermath of adversity and in the midst of psychological distress, and as such they might have practical applications for the development of intervention programs