The authors examined self-enhancing bias as a predictor of adjustment among individuals in or near the World Trade Center during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Resilience was defined from categorical and continuous analyses of both participant self-report and friend and relative ratings of adjustment. Self-enhancement was associated with a resilient outcome, ratings of better adjustment prior to September 11th, greater positive affect, and reduced perceptions of social constraints. Additional analyses indicated that self-enhancers' reduced symptom levels were fully mediated by their low perceived social constraints. However, consistent with previous evidence suggesting a social cost to self-enhancement, at 18 months post-September 11th, self-enhancers' friends and relatives also rated them as decreasing in social adjustment and as being less honest.

This longitudinal study examined the course and bidirectional relation between posttraumatic distress and posttraumatic growth (PTG). A sample of Israeli ex-prisoners of war and matched controls were followed over 17 years. Participants' posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety symptoms were measured at three time-points. PTG was assessed twice. Applying an autoregressive cross-lagged modeling strategy, initial PTSD predicted subsequent PTG above and beyond PTG stability, but not vice versa. Cross-lagged relations of PTG to depression and anxiety were not significant. Moreover, analysis of PTG trajectory revealed that individuals with PTSD reported higher PTG levels across times than those without PTSD. Thus, growth is facilitated and maintained by endorsement rather than absence of PTSD. The findings are discussed in the context of the illusionary versus adaptive notion of PTG.

Background: Posttraumatic stress related with the childbirth experience of full-term delivery with health outcomes has been recently documented in a growing body of studies. The magnitude of this condition and the factors that might put a woman at risk for developing childbirth-related postpartum posttraumatic stress disorder (PP-PTSD) symptoms are not fully understood.Methods: In this systematic review of 36 articles representing quantitative studies of primarily community samples, we set to examine PP-PTSD prevalence rates and associated predictors with a focus on the role of prior PTSD and time since childbirth.Results: A significant minority of women endorsed PP-PTSD following successful birth. Acute PP-PTSD rates were between 4.6 and 6.3%, and endorsement of clinically significant PP-PTSD symptoms was identified in up to 16.8% of women in community samples of high quality studies. Negative subjective experience of childbirth emerged as the most important predictor. Endorsement of PTSD before childbirth contributed to PP-PTSD; nevertheless, women without PTSD also exhibited PP-PTSD, with acute rates at 4.6%, signifying a new PTSD onset in the postpartum period.Conclusion: Although the majority of women cope well, childbirth for some can be perceived as a highly stressful experience and even result in the development of PP-PTSD symptoms. More research is needed to understand postpartum adaption and childbirth-related posttraumatic stress outcomes.

This study examined the relationship between individual differences in adult attachment and psychological adaptation in a sample of high-exposure survivors of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression were assessed via self-report 7 and 18 months after the attacks. In addition, friends and relatives were asked to provide evaluations of participants' adjustment before and after the attacks. Findings indicate that securely attached individuals exhibited fewer symptoms of PTSD and depression than insecurely attached individuals and were viewed by friends and relatives as showing an increase in adjustment following the attacks. Highly dismissing adults were viewed by their friends and family as showing neither increments nor decrements in adjustment, despite the fact that highly dismissing people self-reported relatively high levels of PTSD and depression.

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