Qualitative research of resilience and posttraumatic growth among adolescents in Wenchuan Earthquake region / 中国心理卫生杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:This paper explores the development characteristics of posttraumatic growth,and the acceleration of resiliency in posttraumatic growth among adolescents after Wenchuan Earthquake.Methods:We constructed our sample which consisted of 46 adolescents who had traumatic experience in the Wenchuan Earthquake using stratified sampling method.We tracked and monitored the psychological well-being of our subjects for approximately two and half years and six months using questionnaires.9 individuals from the sample were selected based on purposeful sampling according to the longitudinal data and in-depth interviews were conducted for these selected adolescents.The data were collected by semi-structured interviews,organized by Nvivo8.0 and analyzed using thematic analysis.Results:Posttraumatic growth contained four dimensions,including new possibility of the emergence,positive changes of attitude in interpersonal relationship and in philosophy of life,personal strength except altruistic behavior and spiritual change.Protective factors of resiliency among the interviewed students showed individual and gender differences,adolescents with a higher level of resilience had a higher level of posttraumatic growth.Conclusion:The dimensions of posttraumatic growth have unique features.Resilience plays an important role in facilitating individual's posttraumatic growth after the Wenchuan Earthquake.Positive experience in the past and the positive reflection on the event can promote the level of posttraumatic growth.