An Examination of Posttraumatic Growth and Posttraumatic Depreciation: Two Exploratory Studies

Abstract

Will people report both posttraumatic growth and depreciation following a highly stressful event? Using the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory as the measure of growth, two studies compared responses to equivalent items designed to assess depreciation. Both types of change were reported, but growth was reported at much higher levels, and there was no correlation between growth and depreciation. Small order and gender differences were found when the items were grouped into two separate sets, but not when equivalent items were paired. People experience both growth and depreciation on the same dimensions following a stressful event. Implications of these studies are discussed.