The Role of Rumination in the Coexistence of Distress and Posttraumatic Growth Among Bereaved Japanese University Students

Abstract

This study examined the relationships between rumination, distress and posttraumatic growth (PTG). Seventy-one bereaved Japanese university students completed the PTG Inventory, the Impact of Event Scale-Revised, and a rumination scale. Three models, with variables including intrusive rumination, deliberate rumination, distress, and PTG, were tested using structural equation modeling. Results indicated that 1 model, which depicted recent intrusive rumination leading to distress and deliberate rumination soon after the event leading to PTG, with distress and PTG coexisting, was shown to best fit the data. Present findings offer implications for future research on PTG.

Notes

¹A report using the larger sample including the current participants was published in describing the development of the Japanese version of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (Taku et al., 2007). The alpha coefficient is based on the original sample (N = 445) referred to at the beginning of the Participants section.

²The overall mean on the original 21-item PTGI in this sample was 41.9 (SD = 19.8, range = 0–105). As noted above, three items were deleted from that inventory for the PTGI-J, based on the factor analysis (Taku et al., 2007).

∗p < .05; ∗∗p < .01.