The Relationship Between Secondary Traumatic Stress and Personal Posttraumatic Growth: Personality Factors as Moderators

The war next-door-A pilot study on Romanian adolescents' psychological reactions to potentially traumatic experiences generated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Introduction

Romania shares the longest UE border with Ukraine, and since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, many have been involved in helping the refugees. Consequently, children and adolescents might be directly and indirectly exposed to war-related trauma. In the present exploratory research, we investigated Romanian adolescents' potential risk and protective factors related to the psychological outcomes of war exposure. Our cross-sectional study was conducted shortly after February 24th (i.e., the first invasion day).

Methods

The sample included 90 Romanian adolescents aged 11 to 15 (M = 12.90, SD = 1.17), residents in Iași, Romania (i.e., 205,7 km from the Ukrainian border). Participants completed self-reported measures of peritraumatic dissociative experiences, knowledge about the conflict in Ukraine, personal, school, and family implications in volunteering/helping behavior, discussions about the conflict, threat perception (self and perceived parental threat), anxiety, social media engagement, resilience, and moral elevation.

Results

The main findings suggested that participants involved in helping behaviors toward Ukrainian refugees present higher peritraumatic dissociative experiences, anxiety symptoms, and higher moral elevation than boys and participants not involved in these behaviors. Moreover, anxiety symptoms were positively associated with threat perception, peritraumatic dissociation, and social media engagement and negatively related to resilience.

Discussions

Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings concerning their practical utility in managing peritraumatic exposure to war by using interventions designed to increase adolescents' resilience during difficult times.

Post-Traumatic Growth during COVID-19: The Role of Perceived Social Support, Personality, and Coping Strategies

Although many studies on mental health have been conducted among various populations during the COVID-19 pandemic, few studies have focused on post-traumatic growth (PTG) in the general population. The current study aimed to explore whether perceived social support, personality, and coping strategies are associated with PTG in the COVID-19 pandemic period. The study also investigated whether coping strategies mediate the relations between perceived social support, personality, and PTG. A total of 181 participants (Mage = 24) completed the self-report questionnaire online, which was distributed via various online channels, mainly in China and Sweden. The relations between the study variables were examined with correlation analyses and a multiple mediation analysis. Results showed that more than half of the participants (60.8%) reported experiences of PTG during the pandemic. Additionally, perceived social support, personality traits (extraversion, emotional stability, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) and coping strategies (problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, and social support coping) were positively correlated with PTG. In addition, coping strategies (problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, and avoidance coping) mediated the relations between perceived social support, personality traits and PTG. Theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed, concluding that the findings of this study have the potential to guide intervention efforts to promote positive change during the pandemic.

Personality and job satisfaction among Chinese health practitioners: The mediating role of professional quality of life

This study aims to explore mediating effects of professional quality of life on the relationship between big-five personality traits and job satisfaction in a Chinese healthcare setting. A total of 1620 Chinese healthcare professionals were recruited to participate in a randomised cross-sectional survey. The results suggest that professional quality of life transmitted the effect of personality to job satisfaction. Specifically, compassion satisfaction and burnout mediated the positive effect of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness upon job satisfaction; as well as mediated negative effects of neuroticism upon job satisfaction. Secondary traumatic stress mediated the positive effect of extraversion upon job satisfaction. The paper also discusses the cultural factors contributing to the mediating effects and implications offered by the study at the macro, messo, and micro levels.

Coping with my own way: Mediating roles of emotional expression and social support seeking in the associations between individual differences and posttraumatic growth

This study examined the associations between individual differences and posttraumatic growth, and coping strategies as mediators among 454 trauma-exposed American college students. Results showed that relational-interdependent self-construal, optimism, emotional expression, and social support seeking were associated with higher posttraumatic growth. Moreover, social support seeking and emotional expression partially mediated between relational-interdependent self-construal and posttraumatic growth, such that relational-interdependent self-construal was associated with posttraumatic growth through increased support seeking and emotional expression. However, the association between optimism and posttraumatic growth was partially mediated only by increased emotional expression, but not social support seeking. Findings imply that individual differences may facilitate posttraumatic growth through different coping mechanisms.

Posttraumatic Growth, Personality Factors, and Social Support Among War-Experienced Young Georgians

Despite much research on adult posttraumatic growth in recent decades, few studies have focused on posttraumatic growth in the young and especially after experiencing war. This study examined personality factors and different types and sources of social support as key correlates of posttraumatic growth in war-experienced children and adolescents. Participants were 242 individuals from settlements for internally displaced people in Georgia with a mean age of 13.22 years (SD = 2.73). Relations between variables were examined with correlations, standard multiple regressions, and mediation analyses. Results showed that the main predictors of posttraumatic growth were extraversion, conscientiousness, and social support. In addition, informational type of support from peers related significantly to posttraumatic growth. Moreover, general social support mediated the link between personality factors and posttraumatic growth. Conclusions are drawn on the mechanisms underlying posttraumatic growth in young persons.

The five-factor model of personality, work stress and professional quality of life in neonatal intensive care unit nurses

AIMS

The study aim was to determine the direct and indirect relations of the five-factor model of personality traits and work stress with professional quality of life in neonatal nurses.

BACKGROUND

Neonatal intensive care nursing has positive and negative effects on neonatal nurses' psychological well-being. Although individual and situational factors interact to influence professional quality of life, there have been few studies of these relationships in neonatal nurses.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study conducted in 2016.

METHODS

Self-report questionnaires were used to measure professional quality of life (burnout, secondary traumatic stress and compassion satisfaction), five-factor model of personality traits (neuroticism, agreeableness, extraversion, conscientiousness and openness) and work stress (role ambiguity, role conflict and role overload).

RESULTS

One hundred and forty (34%) of 405 eligible neonatal nurses provided the data. After controlling for work stress, neuroticism and agreeableness were related to burnout, neuroticism was related to secondary traumatic stress, and extraversion was related to compassion satisfaction. Work stress controlled for personality traits was related to burnout and secondary traumatic stress, but not to compassion satisfaction. Neuroticism moderated the effect of work stress on secondary traumatic stress and agreeableness and openness moderated the effect of work stress on compassion satisfaction. Work stress mediated the effect of neuroticism and extraversion on burnout and the effects of extraversion and conscientiousness on compassion satisfaction.

CONCLUSION

Strategies to reduce work stress may not lessen burnout and secondary traumatic stress or increase compassion satisfaction in neonatal nurses who are prone to high neuroticism, low agreeableness and low extraversion.