Event Centrality, Posttraumatic Cognitions, and the Experience of Posttraumatic Growth

Abstract

This study tested the extent to which negative appraisals following traumatic events and the centrality of traumatic events predicted posttraumatic growth (PTG; Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996). Participants were 405 undergraduates at a Midwestern university who reported experiencing at least one traumatic event. Regression analyses indicated that the centrality of the event was a significant predictor for all five domains of PTG. Negative appraisals of the world were related to some domains of growth, but neither negative cognitions about the self nor self-blame was a significant predictor of any of the growth domains. Interpretation of these results is considered in light of the consistencies with Janoff-Bulman's (2004) explanatory models of development of PTG.

Keywords:

• cognitive
• event centrality
• growth
• trauma