Relationships Among Trauma Type, Posttraumatic Stress, and Posttraumatic Growth

The goal of this study was to provide insight into two research questions: 1) Does trauma type (interpersonal versus non-interpersonal) relate to how posttraumatic stress (PTS) and posttraumatic growth (PTG) develop in relation to one another? and 2) Do differences in individuals’ reports of PTS symptoms or PTG domains exist based on trauma type? Adults seeking behavioral health or medical treatment (N = 158) were recruited from a community integrated health care agency and a men’s residential support program located in the Southeastern United States. The results of the study did not show a significant curvilinear relationship between PTS and PTG for interpersonal or non-interpersonal trauma types. A significant negative linear relationship was observed between the post-trauma outcomes for noninterpersonal trauma, but no significant linear relationship was observed for interpersonal trauma. Additionally, individuals who reported an interpersonal trauma had significantly higher scores on total PTSD symptom severity, as well as specific symptom clusters, than those who reported a non-interpersonal trauma. Finally, there was no significant difference in PTG scores for those who reported interpersonal and non-interpersonal trauma. Results from the current study indicated that trauma type may be an important factor in the nature of the PTS and PTG relationship, and seems to be associated with PTSD symptom severity, but less important in the reporting of PTG.