Relationships among Trait Resilience, Virtues, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, and Post-traumatic Growth

Abstract

The present study aims to examine the relationship between trait resilience and virtues in the context of trauma. A total of 537 participants who attended the preliminary investigation and completed the Life Events Checklist were screened. Of these participants, 142 suffered from personal traumatic experiences in the past year; these individuals were qualified and invited to respond to online questionnaires to assess trait resilience, virtues (i.e., Conscientiousness, Vitality, and Relationship), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and post-traumatic growth (PTG). The following questionnaires were used: Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale-Revised, Chinese Virtues Questionnaire, PTSD Checklist-Specific, and Post-traumatic Growth Inventory-Chinese. Only 95 participants who manifested self-reported PTSD symptoms and PTG were involved in the current analyses. Trauma was positively and significantly correlated with PTSD in the current sample. Results indicated that trait resilience was positively associated with virtues and PTG; by contrast, PTSD scores were negatively but not significantly related to most of these factors. The three virtues contributed to PTG to a greater extent than trait resilience in non-PTSD and PTSD groups. However, trait resilience remained a significant predictor in the PTSD group even when the three virtues were controlled. The relationship between trait resilience and PTG was moderated by PTSD type (non-PTSD group vs. PTSD group). Our results further suggested that trait resilience and virtues were conceptually related but functionally different constructs. Trait resilience and virtues are positively related; thus, these factors contributed variances to PTG in the context of trauma; however, trait resilience is only manifested when virtues are controlled and when individuals are diagnosed as PTSD. Furthermore, implications and limitations of this study are discussed.

Associations between changes in resilient coping and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms

“…The pattern of associations between PTSD and resilience appears similar across research studies regardless of how resilience is conceptualized and measured. In cross‐sectional studies from a wide variety of countries, resilience has consistently been inversely correlated with PTSD (Duan, Guo & Gan, 2015; Teche et al, 2017; Zang et al, 2017), and it has often been found to moderate or mediate the impact of stress, abuse, neglect or trauma on PTSD severity (Kim, Kim, & Kong, 2017; Lee et al, 2016; Ying, Wu, Lin, & Jiang, 2014). In a longitudinal study of military service personnel, patients with low resilience were at significantly greater odds for developing PTSD, to the degree that the researchers estimated that increasing resilience by 20% could reduce the odds of developing PTSD by 73% and the incidence of PTSD by 32%, with a potential cost savings of 196 million dollars annually (Vyas et al, 2016).…”

Protective Effect of Self-Compassion to Emotional Response among Students with Chronic Academic Stress

“…However, this case is not constant. Studies have also indicated that people with a few positive qualities can live through traumatic events, manage them well, and stay healthy (Carver and Antoni, 2004; Duan and Guo, 2015; Duan et al, 2015a). These findings are consistent with the Cognitive Transaction Model of Stress (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984).…”

Latent Profiles of Posttraumatic Growth and Their Relation to Differences in Resilience among Only-Child-Lost People in China

“…However, growth requires an individual to find meaning for a traumatic event [27]. Previous studies of resilience and PTG have mostly concentrated on cancer patients [28], women with infertility [29], HIV patients [30], and people who have suffered from personal traumatic experiences in the previous year [31]. There is a lack of research on OCL people.…”