What Determines Posttraumatic Stress and Growth Following Various Traumatic Events? A Study in a Turkish Community Sample.

This study aimed to examine the roles of personality traits, traumatic event types, coping, rumination, and social support in explaining posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTS) and posttraumatic growth (PTG) in a representative community sample of 498 Turkish adults. The results of 2 multiple regression analyses showed that PTS was associated with neuroticism, experiencing events involving intentional/assaultive violence, intrusive and deliberate rumination, and fatalistic coping. In contrast, PTG was related to conscientiousness, openness to experience, injury/shocking and sudden-death type of events, deliberate rumination, problem-solving coping, and perceived social support. When all variables were entered into the equation, almost two thirds of the variability (R2 = .64) in the severity of PTS and more than one third of the variability (R2 = .40) in PTG was explained. The findings can aid in the development of psychosocial support programs for individuals experiencing traumatic events.