Posttraumatic Growth and Depreciation from University Students’ Perspectives

Abstract

Objective: This study investigated whether a sample of Iranian university students considered posttraumatic depreciation (PTD) and posttraumatic growth (PTG) as negative or positive. Also, possible gender and religiosity differences in understanding of changes in PTD and PTG were evaluated.

Method: The present cross-sectional study was conducted during 2019-2020. The target sample Consisted of 298 students (mean age = 23.79) from 3 Universities in Esfahan and Tehran (Iran), recruited by convenience sampling. The sample answered to the scales, including Posttraumatic Growth Inventory and Posttraumatic Depreciation Inventory; and Iranian version of The Clark and Stark Religious questionnaire.

Results: Despite the overall support for the PTG and PTD constructs, the present study showed that there are cross-cultural differences that can affect people's perception of item evaluation positively or negatively. In this study, almost all items that were evaluated differently with operationally defined PTG and PTD belonged to “Relating to Others” factor. The result also displayed gender and religiosity differences in perceptions of growth and depreciation.

Conclusion: These results suggest that it is necessary to identify the concept of PTG and PTD in each culture and the individual differences that may affect the perception of PTG and PDT be considered.