Psychological Development and Education ›› 2014, Vol. 30 ›› Issue (1): 68-74.

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Social Support Mediate the Associations Between Gratitude and Post-traumatic Growth in Middle School Students at 3.5 Years After Wenchuan Earthquake

ZHOU Xiao1, AN Yuan-yuan1,2, WU Xin-chun1, CHEN He-qiong3, LONG Chao-min4   

  1. 1. School of Psychology, Institute of Developmental Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875;
    2. School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210097;
    3. Yingxiu Middle School, Wenchuan 623003;
    4. Wenchuan Middle School, Wenchuan 623000
  • Online:2014-01-15 Published:2014-01-15

PDF (PC)

Abstract: The current study was to investigate the relationship among gratitude, social support and post-traumatic growth among 376 middle school students at 3.5 years after Wenchuan earthquake. The results found that:(1) The level of PTG of middle school students were higher, the level of perceived changes in self and change in relationship with others, are higher than the level of changed philosophy of life, female students have more changed sense in philosophy of life than male students, and the students in seventh grade was lower than others grades. (2) Both gratitude and social support were positively related to post-traumatic growth.(3) Social support mediate the associations between gratitude and post-traumatic growth. The results indicated that for middle school students after three years after Wenchuan earthquake, gratitude not only had a direct effect on post-traumatic growth, but also had an indirect effect on post-traumatic growth throught social support.

Key words: middle school students, gratitude, post-traumatic growth, social support, mediation

CLC Number: 

  • B844.2

Algoe, S. B. (2005). A relational account of gratitude: A positive emotion that strengthens interpersonal connections. Doctoral dissertation, University of Virginia.

Bartlett, M. Y., & DeSteno, D. (2006). Gratitude and prosocial behavior helping when it costs you. Psychological Science, 17(4), 319-325.

Belle, D. (1991). Gender differences in the social moderators of stress. In A. Monat & R. S. Lazarus (Eds.), Stress and coping: An anthology (pp. 258-274). New York: Columbia University Press.

Branje, S. J. T., van Lieshout, C. F. M., & van Aken, M. A. G. (2004). Relations between Big Five personality characteristics and perceived support in adolescents' families. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86(4), 615-628.

Calhoun, L. G., & Tedeschi, R. G. (2006). The foundations of posttraumatic growth: An expanded framework. In L. G. Calhoun & R. G. Tedeschi (Eds.), Handbook of posttraumatic growth (pp. 1-23). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Calhoun, L. G., Tedeschi, R. G., Cann, A., & Hanks, E. A. (2010). Positive outcomes following bereavement: Paths to posttraumatic growth. Psychologica Belgica, 50(1-2), 1-2.

Frazier, P., Conlon, A., & Glaser, T. (2001). Positive and negative life changes following sexual assault. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 69(6), 1048-1055.

Fredrickson, B. L. (1998). What good are positive emotions? Review of General Psychology, 2(3), 300-319.

Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56(3), 218-226.

Fredrickson, B. L. (2004a). The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. Philosophical transactions-Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences, 359(1449), 1367-1377.

Fredrickson, B. L. (2004b). Gratitude, like other positive emotions, broadens and builds. In R. A. Emmons & M. E. McCullough (Eds.), The psychology of gratitude (pp. 145-166). New York: Oxford University Press.

Fredrickson, B. L., & Branigan, C. (2005). Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought-action repertoires. Cognition & Emotion, 19(3), 313-332.

Fredrickson, B. L., & Cohn, M. A. (2008). Positive emotions. In M. Lewis, J. M. Haviland-Jones & L. F. Barrett (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (Third ed.). New York: The Guilford Press.

Glad, K. A., Jensen, T. K., Holt, T., & Ormhaug, S. M. (2013). Exploring self-perceived growth in a clinical sample of severely traumatized youth. Child Abuse & Neglect, 37(5), 331-342.

Hafstad, G. S., Gil-Rivas, V., Kilmer, R. P., & Raeder, S. (2010). Parental adjustment, family functioning, and posttraumatic growth among Norwegian children and adolescents following a natural disaster. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 80(2), 248-257.

Hafstad, G. S., Kilmer, R. P., & Gil-Rivas, V. (2011). Posttraumatic growth among Norwegian children and adolescents exposed to the 2004 tsunami. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 3(2), 130-138.

Janoff-Bulman, R. (2004). Posttraumatic growth: Three explanatory models. Psychological Inquiry, 15(1), 30-34.

Joseph, S., & Linley, P. A. (2005). Positive adjustment to threatening events: An organismic valuing theory of growth through adversity. Review of General Psychology, 9(3), 262-280.

Karanci, A. N., & Erkam, A. (2007). Variables related to stress-related growth among Turkish breast cancer patients. Stress and Health, 23(5), 315-322.

Kolltveit, S., Lange-Nielsen, I. I., Thabet, A. A. M., Dyregrov, A., Pallesen, S., Johnsen, T. B., et al. (2012). Risk factors for PTSD, anxiety, and depression among adolescents in gaza. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 25(2), 164-170.

Lancaster, S. L., Kloep, M., Rodriguez, B. F., & Weston, R. (2013). Event centrality, posttraumatic cognitions, and the experience of posttraumatic growth. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 22(4), 379-393.

Lepore, S. J., & Kernan, W. D. (2009). Positive life change and the social context of illness: An expanded social-cognitive processing model. In C. L. Park, S. C. Lechner, M. H. Antoni & A. L. Stanton (Eds.), Medical Illness and Positive Life Change: Can Crisis Lead to Personal Transformation? (pp. 139-152). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Levine, S. Z., Laufer, A., Stein, E., Hamama-Raz, Y., & Solomon, Z. (2009). Examining the relationship between resilience and posttraumatic growth. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 22(4), 282-286.

Lindstrom, C. M., Cann, A., Calhoun, L. G., & Tedeschi, R. G. (2013). The relationship of core belief challenge, rumination, disclosure, and sociocultural elements to posttraumatic growth. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 5(1), 50-55.

Linley, P. A., & Joseph, S. (2004). Positive change following trauma and adversity: A review. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 17(1), 11-21.

Martin, L. L., & Clore, G. L. (2001). Theories of mood and cognition: A user's guidebook. Mahwah,NJ: Erlbaum.

McCullough, M. E., Emmons, R. A., & Tsang, J. A. (2002). The grateful disposition: a conceptual and empirical topography. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82(1), 112-127.

McCullough, M. E., Kilpatrick, S. D., Emmons, R. A., & Larson, D. B. (2001). Is gratitude a moral affect? Psychological Bulletin, 127(2), 249-266.

McLean, C. P., Handa, S., Dickstein, B. D., Benson, T. A., Baker, M. T., Isler, W. C., et al. (2013). Posttraumatic growth and posttraumatic stress among military medical personnel. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 5(1), 62-68.

Meyerson, D. A., Grant, K. E., Carter, J. S., & Kilmer, R. P. (2011). Posttraumatic growth among children and adolescents: A systematic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 31(6), 949-964.

Nelson, C. (2009). Appreciating gratitude: Can gratitude be used as a psychological intervention to improve individual well-being. Counseling Psychology Review, 24(3), 38-50.

Nenova, M., DuHamel, K., Zemon, V., Rini, C., & Redd, W. H. (2013). Posttraumatic growth, social support, and social constraint in hematopoietic stem cell transplant survivors. Psycho-Oncology, 22(1), 195-202.

Peterson, C., Park, N., Pole, N., DAndrea, W., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2008). Strengths of character and posttraumatic growth. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 21(2), 214-217.

Phipps, S., Long, A. M., & Ogden, J. (2007). Benefit finding scale for children: Preliminary findings from a childhood cancer population. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 32(10), 1264-1271.

Pietrzak, R. H., Goldstein, M. B., Malley, J. C., Rivers, A. J., Johnson, D. C., & Southwick, S. M. (2010). Risk and protective factors associated with suicidal ideation in veterans of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Journal of Affective Disorders, 123(1-3), 102-107.

Plener, P. L., Singer, H., & Goldbeck, L. (2011). Traumatic events and suicidality in a German adolescent community sample. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 24(1), 121-124.

Ruini, C., & Vescovelli, F. (2013). The role of gratitude in breast cancer: Its relationships with post-traumatic growth, psychological well-being and distress. Journal of Happiness Studies, 14(1),263-274.

Schwarzer, R., Luszczynska, A., Boehmer, S., Taubert, S., & Knoll, N. (2006). Changes in finding benefit after cancer surgery and the prediction of well-being one year later. Social Science & Medicine, 63(6), 1614-1624.

Stockton, H., Hunt, N., & Joseph, S. (2011). Cognitive processing, rumination, and posttraumatic growth. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 24(1), 85-92.

Taku, K., Kilmer, R. P., Cann, A., Tedeschi, R. G., & Calhoun, L. G. (2012). Exploring posttraumatic growth in Japanese youth. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 4(4), 411-419.

Tedeschi, R. G., & Calhoun, L. G. (1995). Trauma & transformation: Growing in the aftermath of suffering. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Tedeschi, R. G., & Calhoun, L. G. (1996). The posttraumatic growth inventory: Measuring the positive legacy of trauma. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 9(3), 455-471.

Tomich, P. L., & Helgeson, V. S. (2012). Posttraumatic growth following cancer: Links to quality of life. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 25(5), 567-573.

Vernon, L. L., Dillon, J. M., & Steiner, A. R. W. (2009). Proactive coping, gratitude, and posttraumatic stress disorder in college women. Anxiety, Stress, & Coping, 22(1), 117-127.

Vishnevsky, T., Cann, A., Calhoun, L. G., Tedeschi, R. G., & Demakis, G. J. (2010). Gender differences in self-reported posttraumatic growth: A meta-analysis. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 34(1), 110-120.

Wild, N. D., & Paivio, S. C. (2004). Psychological adjustment, coping, and emotion regulation as predictors of posttraumatic growth. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 8(4), 97-122.

Wood, A. M., Joseph, S., & Maltby, J. (2009). Gratitude predicts psychological well-being above the Big Five facets. Personality and Individual Differences, 46(4), 443-447.

Wood, A. M., Maltby, J., Gillett, R., Linley, P. A., & Joseph, S. (2008). The role of gratitude in the development of social support, stress, and depression: Two longitudinal studies. Journal of Research in Personality, 42(4), 854-871.

Xu, J., & Liao, Q. (2011). Prevalence and predictors of posttraumatic growth among adult survivors one year following 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Journal of Affective Disorders, 133(1-2), 274-280.

Zoellner, T., & Maercker, A. (2006). Posttraumatic growth in clinical psychology-A critical review and introduction of a two component model. Clinical Psychology Review, 26(5), 626-653.

温忠麟, 张雷, 侯杰泰, 刘红云. (2004). 中介效应检验程序及其应用. 心理学报, 36(5), 614-620.

邹泓. (1999). 中学生的社会支持系统与同伴关系. 北京师范大学学报(社会科学版),(1), 34-42.
[1] LU Xinzhe, WANG Zhi, LI Yong, WANG Binying. Longitudinal Effects of Parental Violence Exposure on Middle School Students' Problem Behaviors: A Moderated Mediation Model [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2024, 40(2): 231-239.
[2] YAN Zhiqiang, ZHOU Ke, ZENG Xiao, XU Hui, ZHU Xiaoqian, ZHANG Juan. The Relationship between Preschooler’s Executive Function and Aggressive Behavior: The Mediation Effect of Cognitive Empathy [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(6): 788-797.
[3] YUAN Yuan, LIANG Zhoujian, ZHANG Li. Structural School Climate and Depression among Middle School Students: A Moderated Mediation Model of Social Support and Gender [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(6): 869-876.
[4] ZHOU Xiaohui, LIU Yanxi, CHEN Xin, WANG Yiji. The Impact of Parental Educational Involvement on Middle School Students' Life Satisfaction:The Chain Mediating Effects of School Relationships and Academic Self-efficacy [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(5): 691-701.
[5] ZHANG Wen, WANG Zhenhong. The Relationship between Negative Life Events and the Internalizing Problems among Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Social Support and the Moderating Role of Parent-adolescent Cohesion [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(5): 718-725.
[6] YIN Xiaolan, ZHOU Lujun, ZHU Cuiying. The Effect of School Environment on the Rural Left-behind Children's Prosocial Behaviors: The Mediating Role of Psychological Capital and Life Satisfaction [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(4): 497-504.
[7] HE Anming, ZHANG Yurui, HUI Qiuping. The Relationship between Gratitude and Social Well-being in College Students: The Mediating Role of Phubbing and the Moderating Role of Negative Life Events [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(4): 505-512.
[8] MA Xing, LIU Wenli. The Mechanism of Vowel Influence on Stops Identification in Chinese Monosyllables [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(4): 513-521.
[9] BAO Zhenzhou, CHU Yijia, WANG Fan, LIU Xixi. Adolescents' Outsider Behaviors in School Bullying: The Roles of School Climate, School Connectedness and Moral Disengagement [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(4): 580-589.
[10] ZHANG Pengcheng, LI Xi, HAN Wuyang, SHEN Yongjiang. The Effect of Lack of Sleep on Negative Emotion in Primary and Secondary School Students: A Chain Mediation Model [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(3): 402-409.
[11] LI Jinwen, BAI Rong, WANG Yumeng, LIU Xia. The Relationship between Developmental Trajectories of Adolescents’ Depression and Self-injury: A Two-year Longitudinal Study [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(3): 429-438.
[12] CAO Ruilin, MEI Songli, LIANG Leilei, LI Chuanen, ZHANG Ying. Relationship between Gratitude and Internet Addiction among College Students: The Mediating Role of Core Self-evaluation and Meaning in Life [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(2): 286-294.
[13] WEI Hua, DING Huimin, HUANG Feng, HE Anming. The Relationship between Need for Uniqueness and College Students’ Mobile Phone Addiction: The Chain Mediating Role of Anxiety and Effortful Control [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(2): 295-304.
[14] LI Xingkai, WU Junsheng, YAO Xiaotong, LIU Yingshan, REN Jie, CHEN Suiqing. The Relationship between Autistic and Intellectual Disabled Children's Behavior Problems and Parental Anxiety: The Mediating Role of Parenting Stress and the Moderating Role of Perceived Social Support [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(1): 77-84.
[15] XU Wenming, FANG Yeyi, YE Caixia. The Effect of Cumulative Family Early Risks on Internalizing Problem among Adolescents [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2022, 38(6): 793-803.
Viewed
Full text


Abstract

Cited
  Shared   
  Discussed   
No Suggested Reading articles found!
Copyright 2018 © Editorial office of Psychological Development and Education
Supported by Beijing Magtech Co.Ltd