Blackie Laura E R, Hudson Nathan W
School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, USA.
J Pers. 2023 Jun;91(3):583-600. doi: 10.1111/jopy.12759. Epub 2022 Aug 12.
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.
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.
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.
We discuss the value of defining PTG as positive trait change and suggest future directions including assessment of facet-level changes and ideographic methods.
创伤后成长（PTG）的研究发现，个体在经历创伤后会在身份认同、人际关系和世界观方面报告积极的变化。在一项预先注册的为期16周的纵向研究中，我们考察了近期经历创伤暴露后的特质变化，以检验将PTG操作性定义为积极的人格变化。我们考察了个人因素和社会因素的影响，包括改变特质的动机、感知到的社会支持和事件中心性。
参与者（n = 1004）报告了过去1个月内的创伤暴露情况、每个创伤事件的中心性以及社会支持情况。有创伤暴露经历的参与者（n = 146）和一个匹配的对照组每隔2周报告8次他们的特质，并在3次报告中报告改变特质的动机。
虽然观察到了一些特质变化，但与PTG不一致。我们发现，在不想改变这一特质的参与者中，创伤组的宜人性相对于对照组有所下降。对于经历高度核心创伤的个体，尽责性下降。社会支持预测情绪稳定性、尽责性和开放性会增加，但仅适用于对照组中的个体。
我们讨论了将PTG定义为积极特质变化的价值，并提出了未来的方向，包括对层面变化的评估和个人特质方法。
