Sense of Coherence and Posttraumatic Growth: The Moderating Role of Value Orientation in Chinese and Swiss Bereaved Parents

ABSTRACT

Sense of Coherence–Revised (SOC-R) and posttraumatic growth (PTG) can be understood as two metaheuristics that are closely linked to resilience and adaption to adversity. This study investigated the association between SOC-R and PTG, as well as the moderating role of value orientations, in a sample of 67 Chinese and Swiss parents who lost their child. Results showed that, cross-culturally, the value of conservation was negatively associated with PTG, and self-transcendence showed a significant moderation effect to enhance the positive relationship between SOC-R and PTG. Implications for clinical practice to facilitate growth by focusing on SOC-R and value orientations were discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Bereaved parents
• culture
• posttraumatic growth
• Sense of Coherence–Revised
• value orientations

Acknowledgments

During the work on her dissertation, Shauna Mc Gee was a pre-doctoral fellow of LIFE (International Max Planck Research School on the Life Course; participating institutions: MPI for Human Development, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, University of Michigan, University of Virginia, University of Zurich).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a China Scholarship Council for the first author, DX, and the Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship (ESKAS-Nr. 2016.0109) for the second author, SMG.

Notes on contributors

Daiming Xiu

Daiming Xiu is a psychologist and postdoctoral researcher in social work at The University of Hong Kong. His research interests include grief and trauma, emotional memory, and cultural clinical psychology.

Shauna L. Mc Gee

Shauna Mc Gee is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at the University of Zurich. Her research interests focus on trauma, resilience, and the psychological, biological, social, and environmental aspects of health and aging processes.

Andreas Maercker

Andreas Maercker is a professor of psychology at the University of Zurich. His research interests include psychological trauma, clinical gerontopsychology, and cultural clinical psychology.