The Effects of Personality, Social Support and Religiosity on Posttraumatic Growth

Julie T. Wilson

University of Southern Queensland

Joseph M. Boden

Christchurch Health and Development Study,
University of Otago,
Christchurch

Abstract

The Effects of Personality, Social Support
and Religiosity on Posttraumatic Growth

Introduction

Although exposure to adversity is a common human experience, it has become increasingly clear that some individuals may experience positive outcomes after facing traumatic situations (Linley & Joseph, 2004; O'Leary, 1998). One kind of positive outcome that has been described in the literature is posttraumatic growth (PTG), which has been described as a sense of increased ability to face adversity, and an increased sense of personal strength and development (Bhushan & Hussain, 2007; Calhoun & Tedeschi, 2006; Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004). The question arises as to why some individuals experience growth in response to trauma, while others suffer from difficulties such as posttraumatic stress and other mental and physical disorders (Park, 1998; Park, 2004). A wide range of research has examined these questions, and has suggested that there may be a number of factors that influence PTG, including: personality; social support; and religious and spiritual beliefs (Bhushan & Hussain, 2007; Calhoun & Tedeschi, 2004; Christopher, 2004; Linley & Joseph, 2004; Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004; Zoellner & Maercker, 2006). The purpose of the present investigation was to examine the ways in which personality traits were related to social support and religious and spiritual beliefs, and in turn the ways in which these were related to PTG.

Social support, religious/spiritual beliefs, and posttraumatic growth
Social support systems play a key role in the aftermath of trauma (Calhoun & Tedeschi, 2006). Numerous studies have shown that individuals demonstrate better adjustment to traumatic events when perceived levels of social support were greater (McIntosh, Silver, & Wortman, 1993). For example, a number of studies have shown that the availability of social support during and after a traumatic event can reduce levels of depression, anxiety, and other mental and physical disorders amongst those exposed to a range of traumatic events (for reviews see: de Zulueta, 2007; Halcomb, Daly, Davidson, Elliott, & Griffiths, 2005; Keane, Marshall, & Taft, 2006; Walsh, 2007).

Further studies have also shown that social support may play a key role in posttraumatic growth. For example, Cadell and colleagues (Cadell, Regehr, & Hemsworth, 2003), in a study of bereaved HIV/AIDS caregivers, found that individuals who reported higher levels of social support also reported increased PTG. Also, in a study of children who were victims of a hurricane, Cryder et al (Cryder, Kilmer, Tedeschi, & Calhoun, 2006) found that a supportive social environment led to increased competency beliefs, which in turn were related to PTG experiences. In addition, Borja and colleagues (Borja, Callahan, & Long, 2006) found that informal support from friends and family predicted increased levels of PTG amongst a sample of women who had been sexually assaulted.

The literature on social support and its role in overcoming the effects of traumatic events has also examined factors that contribute to the perceived benefits of social support. In general, the literature suggests that the key factors involved in social support include the size of one’s social network, the extent to which the individual is embedded in a social network, and the extent to which individuals are satisfied with their level of social support (Thoits, 1995). However, it is unclear which aspects of social support are effective in aiding recovery from trauma exposure. For example, Tan and Basta (1995) found that the size of a social support system is not necessarily a predictor of satisfaction with social support. Indeed, they found that individuals believed that a satisfactory level of social support can be derived from a single good relationship. Similary, Sarason and colleagues (Sarason, Shearin, Pierce, & Sarason, 1987) observed that the perception of support rather than the receipt of support predicted better overall adjustment after exposure to a traumatic event. Other studies, however, suggest that social network size may be important. For example, Robbins and colleagues (Robbins et al., 2003) found that both network size and network satisfaction played a role in coping amongst a sample of HIV-positive women.

In addition to social support, religion and spirituality may play an important role in responses to trauma (Pargament, Desai, & McConnell, 2006). It has been argued that individuals are motivated to assign meaning to traumatic events (Davis, Nolen-Hoeksema, & Larson, 1998; Janoff-Bulman, 1992). In times of trauma religion or spirituality can provide higher-order schemas which help to maintain meaning in life by giving individuals a universal and enduring sense of purpose (Calhoun & Tedeschi, 2006).

A number of studies have found that religious and spiritual beliefs may play a key role in reaction to traumatic events. For example in a prospective longitudinal study of people coping with loss of a family member, respondents who prior to the loss reported having religious or spiritual beliefs reported having been able to make the death more comprehensible within the context of their beliefs (Davis et al., 1998). Similarly, Ross (1990) found that the stronger a person’s religious belief, the lower the level of psychological distress as measured by symptoms of depression and anxiety, supporting the idea that religion reduces demoralisation and provides hope and meaning.

In addition, further studies have found evidence linking religious and spiritual beliefs with PTG. For example, Laufer and Solomon (Laufer & Solomon, 2006), in a study of Israeli adolescents exposed to terrorist attacks, found that higher levels of growth were reported by those with stronger religious beliefs. Similarly, Milam and colleagues (Milam, Ritt-Olson, Tan, Unger, & Nezami, 2005), using a sample of middle-school students, found that identification with a religion was associated with PTG following the September 11^th terrorist attacks in the United States. Also, Cadell et al. (Cadell et al., 2003), using structural equation modelling techniques, found that spirituality predicted PTG amongst a sample of HIV caregivers.

Personality and posttraumatic growth
A range of studies suggest that the major characteristics of personality (i.e. Five Factor Model: Costa & McCrae, 1985) may also play an important role in reactions to trauma and adversity, with personality differences in part accounting for differences in reactions to exposure to traumatic events (Affleck & Tennen, 1996; Carver, 1998; Park, 1998; Zellars & Perrewe, 2001). McCrae & Costa (1986) found that the five major dimensions of personality in the Five Factor Model were related to differences in response to stressful situations. For example, individuals scoring high on Extraversion have been shown to use rational action, positive thinking, substitution, and restraint as coping mechanisms in response to stressful situations, while those who scored high on openness to experience were likely to use humour as a coping mechanism for stressful events (McCrae & Costa, 1986). However, according to Costa and colleagues (Costa, Somerfield, & McCrae, 1996), higher levels of neuroticism were associated with passive and withdrawn behaviour. Neuroticism has also been found to be associated with increased uses of hostile reaction, escapist fantasy, passivity and indecisiveness (McCrae & Costa, 1986).

Studies of individuals exposed to real-world traumatic events have also shown that the major personality characteristics of the five-factor model are related to reactions to trauma. For example, Riolli and colleagues (Riolli, Savicki, & Cepani, 2002), in a study of individuals involved in the Kosovo crisis of 1999, reported that resilience to stress and maladjustment was higher in individuals with higher scores on extraversion, openness to experience, and conscientiousness, and lower scores on neuroticism. Similarly, Qouta and colleagues (Qouta, Punamaki, Montgomery, & El Sarraj, 2007), in a study of Palestinian adolescents exposed to terrorist violence, found that PTSD symptoms were greater amongst those with higher scores on neuroticism.

A number of other studies have examined specifically the role of the characteristics represented by the five factor model in PTG (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996). For example, Shakespeare-Finch and colleagues (Shakespeare-Finch, Gow, & Smith, 2005), in a study of emergency ambulance personnel, found that extroversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness were significantly correlated with perceptions of PTG. Also, Jaarsma and colleagues (Jaarsma, Pool, Sanderman, & Ranchor, 2006), in a validation study of a Dutch PTG measure for cancer patients, found that openness to experience predicted higher PTG scores. Similarly, Val and Linley (Val & Linley, 2006), in a study of Madrid residents following the train bombings in 2004, found that higher levels of extraversion predicted post-traumatic growth.

Linking personality factors to posttraumatic growth, via social support and religion/spirituality
The research described above has shown that social support, religion/spirituality, and personality factors are all related to reactions to traumatic events, and in turn may be related to PTG. However, the interrelationships between social support, religion/spirituality, and personality in predicting PTG are unclear. It may be argued that one way in which the above constructs may be related is through pathways leading from personality, through both social support and religion/spirituality, on to PTG. There are several reasons for assuming these relationships might hold. First, research in personality suggests that the five major personality factors are evident early in life and remain reasonably stable over the life span (Caspi, Roberts, & Shiner, 2005; Small, Hertzog, Hultsch, & Dixon, 2003; Soldz & Vaillant, 1999). Second, there is evidence to suggest that personality factors are related to both social support seeking, and religion/spirituality (Branje, Van Lieshout, & Van Aken, 2004; David, 1999; Saroglou, 2002; Soldz & Vaillant, 1999). In a more general sense, however, it could be argued that, because the five major factors of personality tend to be viewed as latent constructs that predict a range of behaviour (Costa & McCrae, 1985; John & Srivastava, 1999), the most appropriate model of the associations between personality, social support, and religion/spirituality would indicate pathways from personality to both social support and religion/spirituality, and then on to PTG, although it may also be possible for personality factors to be directly related to PTG in such a model. Therefore, the aims of the current study were to examine the specific ways in which scores on each personality domain were associated with PTG directly or via religiosity and/or social support.

We predicted that the personality dimensions of extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness, satisfaction with, and numbers of social support, and religiosity would predict PTG. We further predicted that the personality dimension of extraversion would predict PTG through its relationship with numbers of social support, and that the personality dimension of agreeableness would predict PTG through its relationship with social support (Zellars & Perrewe, 2001), and through its relationship to religion measured by religious attitude (McIntosh et al., 1993). We also predicted that the personality dimension of openness to experience would lead to PTG through its relationship to a Quest orientation to religion (Calhoun, Cann, Tedeschi, & McMillan, 2000).

Method

Participants
Participants were 104 individuals (24 male and 80 female) who were recruited from: (a) the population of undergraduate psychology and anthropology students at the University of Southern Queensland; and (b) residents of Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. Of these participants 66% were undergraduate psychology and anthropology students at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) and the remainder were members of the community. Twenty-five percent of the participants were aged less than 20 years, 28% aged between 20 and 29, 19% aged between 30 and 39 years, 18% between 40-49 years, and the remainder at least 50 years old. There were 112 questionnaires distributed, resulting in a response rate of 93%.

The recruitment of students took place via presentations by the researchers in lecture sessions; volunteers were encouraged to contact the researchers if interested in the study. The recruitment of community members took place through notices posted in public areas (e.g. public library), which encouraged individuals to contact the researchers if interested in participating in the study. All participants were voluntary. Course credit was given to participants who were undergraduate psychology students at the University of Southern Queensland, USQ, and all other participants were entered in a prize raffle.

Potential participants who contacted the researchers were informed of the general nature of the study, including the length of time required to complete the questionnaire. Individuals who agreed to participate in the study were then given the questionnaire and supplementary materials (see below). In some cases, participants were provided with a desk in a private office at which they completed their questionnaires, whereas others completed the materials at home and returned these to the researchers via post.

Materials
All participants completed a battery of self-administered scales and a demographics questionnaire. The measures included:

NEO-Personality Inventory. Personality was measured by the NEO Personality Inventory Form S (NEO-PI: Costa & McCrae, 1985) consisting of 60 items rated on a 5-point scale. Internal consistency of the NEO-PI was calculated using coefficient alpha using data from the Employment sample (N = 1,539) in a study by Costa, McCrae and Dye (1991). Alpha coefficients were .86, .77, .73, .68, and .81 for neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, respectively (Costa et al., 1991).

Short-Form Social Support Questionnaire. Perceived social support was measured by the Short Form Social Support Questionnaire (SSQ6: Sarason & Shearin, 1986), which yields one quasi-structural measure (number of supports) and one global functional measure (satisfaction with support). Alpha reliabilities were .97 for SS-N and .94 for SS-S (Sarason, Levine, Basham, & Sarason, 1983). The correlation between the SSQ N scores and SSQ S scores was .34, suggesting that the two components are best treated separately (Sarason & Shearin, 1986). The short form of the SSQ has been found to correlate very highly with the regular form and to have similar correlations with other instruments (Sarason et al., 1987).

Quest Scale. The Quest Scale (Batson & Ventis, 1982) was designed to measure the degree to which an individual’s religion involves an open-ended, responsive dialogue with existential questions raised by the contradictions and tragedies of life. Batson and Schoenrade (1985) report a test-retest reliability of 0.63. The six-item Quest scale is shown not to be internally consistent with the Cronbach’s alpha being estimated at 0.45 to 0.50 (Batson & Schoenrade, 1991). The fourth of the six questions was omitted from this study, “Questions are far more central to my spiritual experience than are answers”. Also, in place of the word ‘God’ in the first question, the word ‘spirituality’ was used and in the second question the word ‘religious’ was substituted by ‘spirituality’. Cronbach’s alpha for the current sample was .63.

Religious Attitude Questionnaire. Religiosity was measured by the Religious Attitude Questionnaire (Pederson, 2000) consisting of 24 statements yielding scores on the affect, cognition, and conation components of attitudes toward religious beliefs and practices. An example of an affect component statement is “I feel great when I attend church”, a cognitive component statement is “I think religious truth is higher than any other kind of truth”, and a conation component statement, which refers to what an individual is doing or intending to do about one’s religious feelings and beliefs is “When I commit an offense to someone, I ask for his or her forgiveness”. Alpha coefficients were, respectively: affect (.90), cognition (.78), and conation (.72) (Kristensen, Pedersen, & Williams, 2001).

Posttraumatic Growth Inventory. Posttraumatic growth was measured by the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996). This 21-item scale includes factors of New Possibilities, Relating to Others, Personal Strength, Spiritual Change, and Appreciation of Life. Participants responded to each of the statements relating to change by indicating the degree to which this change occurred in their lives as a result of their crisis. An example of a statement of change is “I have a greater feeling of self-reliance”. Internal consistency of the 21-item scale is alpha = .90, and for the factors alpha ranged from .67 to .85. Corrected item-scale correlations (r = .35 to r = .63) indicated that all items are measuring a similar underlying construct, but none is overly redundant with the others (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996). Test-retest reliability is r = .71. The scale is scored by adding all responses to give a total score, and factors are scored by adding responses to items on each of the factors.

Procedure

Questionnaires were administered to participants along with a brief description of the study, consent forms, and sealed debriefing forms with instructions to leave unopened until after completion of the questionnaire. Each participant was instructed to consider whether he/she had experienced a significant negative event or crisis in their lives at any time during the past five years (e.g. sudden or untimely death of a friend/ relative, serious illness, natural disaster, accident, physical or emotional abuse, victim of crime, divorce etc.). At no time was the nature of the participant’s crisis written or spoken about.

The questionnaires were then answered in the following order, Demographic Questionnaire, NEO-PII Form S, Social Support Questionnaire - Short Form (SSQ6), Quest Scale, Religious Attitude Questionnaire (RAQ), and Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI). Debriefing forms provided a more detailed description of the study, and rationale for the use of the particular questionnaires.

Results

Variable	M	SD
Social Support-Satisfaction	5.05	.87
Social Support-Number	3.35	1.82
Quest	16.14	3.49
Religious Attitude Questionnaire	9.48	5.08
Neuroticism	3.49	1.67
Extraversion	2.85	1.77
Openness to Experience	3.61	1.63
Agreeableness	2.84	1.79
Conscientiousness	2.32	1.63
Post Traumatic Growth Inventory	83.28	20.47

Data analysis procedure
A standard multiple regression was conducted to examine the effects of the five domains of personality measured by the NEO-PI, the two religiosity variables measured by the Religious Attitude Questionnaire and the Quest Scale, and the two measures of the Social Support Questionnaire of Satisfaction and Number on the dependent variable of posttraumatic growth as measured by the PTGI. It was predicted that high scores on the four personality domains of extraversion (E), openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness, Satisfaction with social support (SS-S) and Quest would predict PTG. Table 2 displays the correlations between all of the variables, the unstandardized regression coefficients (B), and their standard errors (SE B), the standardised regression coefficients (ß), and the semi-partial correlations (sr_i²), and R² and Adjusted R².

Table 2. Standard Regression Analysis Summary for Variables Predicting Total Posttraumatic Growth (N = 98)

Variable	B	SE B	β	sr_i²
Social Support – Satisfaction	.30	.25	.12	.01
Social Support – Number	1.92	1.09	.17	.02
Quest	1.81	.55	.31	.08**
Religious Attitude	.71	.36	.18	.03*
Neuroticism	2.22	1.25	.18	.02
Extraversion	4.61	1.17	.40	.11**
Openness to Experience	-1.13	1.16	-.09	.01
Agreeableness	.17	1.06	.02	.00
Conscientiousness	.24	1.16	.02	.00

Table 3. Hierarchical Regression Analysis Summary for Variables
Predicting Total Posttraumatic Growth (N = 98)

Variable	B	SE B	β	sr_i²
Step 1
Social Support – Satisfaction	.28	.25	.11	.01
Social Support – Number	2.38	1.07	.21	.04*
Quest	2.10	.53	.36	.12*
Religious Attitude	.81	.37	.20	.04*
Step 2
Social Support – Satisfaction	.31	.25	.12	.01
Social Support – Number	1.92	1.09	.17	.02
Quest	1.81	.55	.31	.08*
Religious Attitude	.71	.36	.18	.03*
Neuroticism	2.22	1.25	.18	.02
Extraversion	4.61	1.17	.40	.11*
Openness to Experience	-1.13	1.16	-.09	.01
Agreeableness	.17	1.06	.02	.00
Conscientiousness	.24	1.16	.02	.00

Variable	B	SE B	β
Religious Attitude
Neuroticism	-.057	.34	-.02
Extraversion	.1	.36	.04
Openness to Experience	.22	.32	.07
Agreeableness	.71	.30	.25*
Conscientiousness	.46	.32	.15
Quest
Neuroticism	.057	.23	.03
Extraversion	.21	.22	.16
Openness to Experience	.74	.21	.35*
Agreeableness	-.13	.20	-.07
Conscientiousness	.17	.22	.08
Social Support – Satisfaction
Neuroticism	-1.41	.50	-.30*
Extraversion	-.40	.49	-.09
Openness to Experience	-.48	.47	-.10
Agreeableness	.29	.43	.07
Conscientiousness	1.29	.47	.27*
Social Support – Number
Neuroticism	-.33	.12	-.30*
Extraversion	.10	.12	.10
Openness to Experience	.032	.11	.03
Agreeableness	.15	.10	.14
Conscientiousness	.053	.11	.05

Note. *p < .05.

When regressed onto Religious Attitude, agreeableness was statistically significant, β = .25, F (5, 92) = 2.52, p < .05, and when regressed onto Quest, openness to experience was statistically significant, β = .35, F (5, 92) = 3.92, p < .05. Additional findings were that conscientiousness was statistically significant when regressed onto SS-S, β = .27, p < .05, while neuroticism inversely predicted SS-S, β = -.30, F (5, 92) = 4.47, p < .05 and SS-N, β = -.30, F (5, 92) = 4.48, p, .05. Pearson correlation coefficients are reported in Table 5 showing significant positive correlations between Extraversion and all of Openness to Experience, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, significant negative correlations between N, and both E and A, and significant positive correlations between both measures of social support.

To further explore the significance of Extraversion in relationship to Openness to Experience, Agreeableness and Neuroticism, path weights were calculated resulting in r = .46, of which .06 was caused due to the correlations with O, A and N, and .40 is due to the direct effect of E. The findings of the current study are illustrated in Figure 1.

Table 5. Bivariate Pearson Product-Moment Correlations for Posttraumatic Growth Data

Variable	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
SS - N	-
SS - S	.38*	-
Quest	.02	-.08	-
R Att	.07	.09	.19	-
N	-.40**	-.32**	-.06	-.14	-
E	.28**	.11	.25*	.16	-.44**	-
O	.09	-.10	.38*	.10	-.08	.27**	-
A	.27*	.18	.01	.30**	-.30**	.20*	.11	-
C	.16	.32**	.10	.21*	-.12	.29**	-.03	.19	-
PTG	.27**	.17	.39**	.30**	-.14	.47**	.14	.16	.24*	-

Note. * p<.05, **p<.01

All significant findings are displayed in Figure 1, which shows Pearson Product moment Correlation Coefficients (r) from Table 5, and standardised regression coefficients (b) from Tables 2, 3 and 4.

Figure 1. Path diagram: Influence of personality dimensions, social support,
religious attitude and quest on posttraumatic growth.

Discussion

The present study examined the relationships between personality, social support, religion/spirituality, and PTG. More specifically, the study examined whether the personality constructs of extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness would predict PTG, both directly and via religiosity and social support. Results of the first standard multiple regression analysis only partially supported the hypothesis. Both of the religiosity measures of Religious Attitude and Quest, and extraversion had a direct positive effect on PTG. The combination of the two religiosity variables accounted for the same amount of variance in scores on PTG as extraversion alone. However neither of the social support measures predicted PTG in a regression analysis using the full panel of variables. Given that there is evidence from previous research for the benefits of social support as a buffer and a coping resource (for reviews see: de Zulueta, 2007; Halcomb et al., 2005; Keane et al., 2006; Walsh, 2007), and evidence that social support may play a role in PTG (Borja et al., 2006; Cadell et al., 2003; Cryder et al., 2006) it is unclear why this pattern of results between social support and PTG was obtained. A study of breast cancer patients found that social support was not related to PTG (Cordova, Cunningham, Carlson, & Andrykowski, 2001), suggesting that the benefits of social support may not extend to the transformative experience of personal growth after all negative events.

On the other hand, a hierarchical regression analysis found that the number of social supports was a significant predictor of PTG in the aftermath of trauma at the first step of the hierarchical regression, but that this association was reduced to statistical non-significance when neuroticism was entered at the second step of the regression. This finding suggests that neuroticism accounted for the link between number of social supports and PTG, such that lower levels of neuroticism were associated with higher levels of SS-N, which in turn was associated with higher levels of PTG. This finding is in general agreement with previous research on neuroticism and coping. For example, McCrae and Costa (1986) reported that individuals with higher scores on neuroticism were likely to withdraw in response to stressful events, and Riolli and colleagues (2002) found that coping was negatively associated with neuroticism. In addition, the fact that social support network size was related to PTG, whereas network satisfaction was not related to PTG, is somewhat inconsistent with the existing literature. For example, Tan and Basta (Tan & Basta, 1995) and Sarason et al. (1987) have suggested that satisfaction with social support plays a key role in recovering from trauma. However, in agreement with the present findings, Thoits (Thoits, 1995) and Robbins et al. (2003) have suggested that the size of one’s social network may play a role in the effectiveness of social support.

At the second step of the hierarchical regression, only the personality domain of extraversion was shown to be a direct predictor of PTG contributing to the total variance in scores by 11%. As predicted by the literature, both of the measures of religiosity were found to lead to PTG (Calhoun et al., 2000; McIntosh et al., 1993; Pargament et al., 2006; Park, 1998).

The second hypothesis, that personality factors would predict PTG through their effects on religiosity and social support, was supported by the results of a third analysis in which a set of four regressions were performed to examine the effects on each religiosity and social support measure independently. The personality domain of agreeableness was found to predict Religious Attitude. Consistent with previous literature (Calhoun et al., 2000), participants in this study who scored higher on openness to experience were more likely to have a Quest orientation to religion, which in turn was a predictor of PTG.

The current study indicated that extraversion was the most influential personality construct in predicting PTG, both through its direct effects and indirectly through its relationships with openness to experience, agreeableness, and (inversely) with neuroticism. It was expected that extraversion would be related to social support (Zellars & Perrewe, 2001); however only spurious effects through the inverse relationship of extraversion to neuroticism and SS-N, and through the relationship to conscientiousness and SS-S were found in the current study. McCrae and Costa (1986) suggested that those high in extraversion respond to negative events with the use of rational action and positive thinking, which may serve as the direct path to growth.

In the current study the personality domain of agreeableness had a positive effect on PTG through its effect on Religious Attitude, and inversely through its relationship with neuroticism which in turn influenced the number of social supports. However, unlike previous findings (Costa et al., 1996; Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996; Zellars & Perrewe, 2001), agreeableness was not directly related to social support.

Finally, the personality domain of conscientiousness was shown to be a predictor of satisfaction with Social Support in this study, but there is no further association with PTG. The only way that conscientiousness was at all related to PTG is through its relationship with extraversion, suggesting that people who score higher on measures of conscientiousness were more likely to have higher levels of extraversion, which would in turn lead to a greater likelihood of experiencing growth after trauma. The finding that higher scores for conscientiousness did not directly lead to PTG was not in line with previous findings (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996).

It was anticipated that the measures of social support used in this study would demonstrate the importance of having helpful support from others in the aftermath of trauma as a way of experiencing PTG. The results of the current study imply however that social support might play a smaller role in growth following trauma than previously thought. Indeed, the individual’s own arsenal of personality resources was shown to be at least as important to growth as social support. Therefore, although previous research has demonstrated the importance of social support, in providing a buffering effect (Cohen & Wills, 1985; Kaniasty & Norris, 1993; Sarason et al., 1983; Tan & Basta, 1995), an aid against burnout (Zellars & Perrewe, 2001), and a contributing factor in raising levels of well being and lowering levels of distress (McIntosh et al., 1993), its unique contribution to actual transformative experiences of growth has not been shown to be significant in this study.

While both the measures of Religious Attitude and Quest orientation to religion have been shown to be predictors of PTG, future research could expand on this finding by using other measures of religious participation and spirituality, along with the personality measures. This could provide further information on ways in which PTG is affected by religiosity and spirituality.

Consistent with the methodology of Tedeschi and Calhoun (1996) in developing the PTGI, participants in this study were asked to rate the degree they experienced each of the items on the PTGI for a significant negative life event that they had experienced in the previous five years. The participants were not asked to either disclose the event that they rated on the PTGI or to rate the level of stress experienced. A limitation of this study, therefore, was that the characteristics of the traumas experienced by participants are unknown and may be extremely varied. Schaeffer and Moos (2001) refer to these characteristics as event-related factors which include severity of the loss, the threat to life, proximity and amount of exposure to the event. However, according to Bowman (1997) the examples of extreme variations in human perceptions of life events mentioned previously suggest that event characteristics may not be as powerful as commonly thought.

Both the PTGI and the SGRS were developed with university student participants, raising issues that the validation sample may have experienced a particularly low base rate of traumatic and stressful events. In the current study, however, only 25% of the participants were aged less than 20 years, with 28% aged between 20 and 29 and 19% aged between 30 and 39 years. Eighteen percent were aged 40-49 years, while 10% of the participants were at least 50 years old. This age range has possibly increased the likelihood of the participants having experienced a severe life stressor. However, the fact that the sample used in the current study differs from the sample used to validate the PTGI may be a limitation.

A further limitation of this and almost all other studies on the effects of trauma is that it is retrospective. According to McFarlane and Yehuda (1996), prospective studies of trauma survivors are difficult due to the randomness with which trauma occurs in individuals. McMillen and colleagues (McMillen, Smith, & Fisher, 1997), however, claimed that prospective studies could answer questions such as the time it takes to develop perceived benefits, the possibility of change in the perceived benefits over time, and the possibility the perceived benefit may predict later adjustment. There is only one known prospective study of perceived benefit, conducted by Affleck, Tennen and Croog (1987) who interviewed heart attack patients seven weeks and then eight years after their attack. Patients who perceived benefits seven weeks after the heart attack were found to be less likely to have had another attack, and had lower levels of morbidity eight year later.

Finally, it should also be noted that the findings of the present study should be interpreted with caution until it is replicated using a larger and more representative sample of the population from which the PTGI was developed. In particular, it could be argued that the lack of association between social support satisfaction and PTG, and the lack of bivariate associations between most of the major personality measures may have been due to a small sample size.

Irrespective of the limitations of the study however, the findings of the present study suggest that personality, social support, and religion/spirituality all play a role in the development of PTG, although the relationships between these factors may be more complex than previously believed to be the case.

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Acknowledgements:
This study was conducted as partial fulfilment of the Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree at the University of Southern Queensland by the first author under the supervision of the second author. The authors thank Ken Mavor for statistical advice.