Journal of Tmumatic Stress, Vot! 9, No.

3, 1996

The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory:

Measuring the Positive Legacy of lkauma
Richard G. Tedeschi' and Lawrence G. Calhoun'

The development of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, an instrument for

assessing positive outcomes reported by persons who have experienced
traumatic events, is described. This 21-item scale includes factors of New
Possibilities, Relating to Others, Personal Strength, Spiritual Change, and
Appreciation of Life. Women tend to report more benefits than do men, and
persons who have experienced traumatic events report more positive change
than do persons who have not experienced extraordinary events. The
Posttraumatic Growth Inventory is modestly related to optimism and
extraversion. The scale appears to have utility in determining how successful
individuals, coping with the aftermath of trauma, are in reconstructing or
strengthening their perceptions of self; others, and the meaning of events.
KEY WORDS: perceived benefits; trauma; growth; coping.

There is overwhelming evidence that traumatic events can produce

many negative physical and psychological consequences. Although re-
searchers have extensively studied the negative effects of trauma, there has
been much less attention paid to the possibility of positive impact of nega-
tive events. However, there is a body of literature suggesting that people
exposed to even the most traumatic events may perceive at least some good
emerging from their struggle with such tragedies as rape (Burt & Katz,
1987; Veronen & Kilpatrick, 1983), incest (Silver, Boon, & Stones, 1983),
bereavement (Calhoun & Tedeschi, 1989-90; Schwartzberg & Janoff-Bul-
man, 1991), cancer (Collins, Bylor, & Skokan, 1990; Bylor, 1983), HIV
infection (Schwartzberg, 1994), heart attacks (Affleck, Tennen, & Croog,
'Additional data are available from the authors at the Department of Psychology, University
of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, North Carolina 28223.

455

0894-9867/96(07004l4SSSO9.5O/l0 1996 lnlcrnational Socicty for l?aurnatic S k u Studies

456 Meschi and Calhoun

1987), disasters (Thompson, 1985), combat (Sledge, Boydstun, & Rabe,

1980), and the Holocaust (Ghana, 1992). At least three broad categories
of perceived benefits have been identified: changes in self-perception,
changes in interpersonal relationships, and a changed philosophy of life.

Perceived Changes in Self

One class of benefits cited by individuals who have faced trauma is

positive change in perception of the self. Affleck and his associates (Af-
fleck, Allen, Tennen, McGrade & Ratzan, 1985; Affleck, Tennen, &
Gershman, 1985) reported that parents with ill and high-risk children in-
dicated that “emotional growth” was a positive outcome of dealing with
their difficulties. Andreasen and Noms (1972) indicated that some bum
patients stated that the reason they had experienced their trauma was to
make them better persons. Eighty-three percent of a sample of persons
who survived the sinking of a cruise ship reported they felt more experi-
enced about life (Joseph, Williams, & Yule, 1993). Collins et al. (1990)
found that the most common positive change reported by cancer patients
was feeling stronger and more self-assured. It appears that living through
life traumas provides a great deal of information about self-reliance, af-
fecting not only self-evaluations of competence in difficult situations but
the likelihood one will choose to address difficulties in an assertive fashion.
Persons coping with a traumatic event often draw the conclusion that they
are stronger (Thomas, DiGiulio, & Sheehan, 1991), a confidence which may
generalize to all kinds of situations, including future traumas.

A Changed Sense of Relationships with Others

Affleck et al. (1985) described reactions of mothers whose newborns

were treated for severe perinatal medical problems in a neonatal intensive
care unit. Almost 60% of the mothers in this sample reported some per-
ceived benefits, with 20% mentioning benefits involving closer family rela-
tionships, emotional growth, and an appreciation of how precious their
child is. Malinak, Hoyt, and Patterson (1979) found similar reactions in
adults who had lost a parent within the preceding 2 years. Approximately
half of these persons reported a deepening of their relationships with others
as they realized how important these relationships are, and how quickly
they can be lost.
Another aspect of improving relationships after traumatic events was
reported by Veronen and Kilpatrick (1983) in a study of rape victims.
Posttraumatic Growth Inventory 457

Women who came for counseling indicated they had learned from their
victimization that they must make decisions in their own best interests, in-
cluding protecting themselves from abuse in their relationships. This ap-
proach to relationships also assisted these women to become better able
to establish more positive and intimate relationships with some family mem-
bers from whom they had been estranged. Burt and Katz (1987) found
approximately 25% of rape victims reported that they had come to value
themselves more and handle relationships better since being raped, al-
though these positive changes had often taken many years to develop.
When people are confronted with traumatic events, the continuing
need for discussion of the consequences of these events can lead to persons
becoming more self-disclosing than they may have been before. Although
the reactions of persons in the support network vary (Dakof & Bylor,
1990), self-disclosure may provide an opportunity to try out new behaviors
that can then be directed at the most appropriate persons in the support
network. The recognition of one’s vulnerability can lead to more emotional
expressiveness, willingness to accept help, and therefore a utilization of so-
cial supports that had previously been ignored. Part of the positive devel-
opment of social relationships comes from the increased sensitivity to other
people and efforts directed at improving relationships (Collins et al., 1990).

A Changed Philosophy of Life

Change in philosophy of life regarded as positive by the respondent

is another type of benefit reported by many persons coping with trauma.
Malinak et al. (1979) indicated that some bereaved respondents reported
an increased appreciation for their own existence, and Affleck, Tennen, and
Gershman (1985) reported that a better perspective on life was reported
by 23% of the mothers of sick newborns in their study. Taylor, Lichtman,
& Wood (1984) found that of women who had made changes since their
cancer was discovered, 60% reported positive changes in priorities, such as
taking life easier and enjoying it more. Ninety-four percent of the survivors
of the sinking of the cruise ship Jupiter reported they no longer took life
for granted and 71% reported they now lived each day to the fullest
(Joseph et al., 1993).
While for some, spiritual beliefs may be temporarily weakened by trag-
edy, and others may become more cynical and less religious (Schwartzberg
& Janoff-Bulman, 1991), the struggle to understand the trauma can lead
many eventually to have their beliefs strengthened (Andrykowski, 1992).
Pargament et al. (1990) point out that a strengthening of religious beliefs
may lead to an increased sense of control, intimacy, and finding meaning.
458 Tedeschi and Calhoun

Recognizing meaning in the midst of trauma and its aftermath may allow
a person to experience emotional relief and lead to a new philosophy of
life that alters basic assumptions people hold about life and what meaning
it may have (Janoff-Bulman, 1992; Taylor & Brown, 1988).
Despite this growing body of literature on perception of benefits from
traumatic life events, and some initial steps toward reliable measurement
of these perceptions (Burt & Katz [1987], with rape victims; Joseph et al.
[1993], with victims of a maritime accident), there has been no general
measure of the perception of benefits that has applicability to a wide array
of different types of traumatic events. Only recently has there been atten-
tion paid to assessing the growth that appears to occur in the aftermath
of such events (Park, Cohen, & Murch, in press). Using a measure of per-
ceived benefits in studies of trauma would alert researchers to the possi-
bility of positive outcomes in addition to the often documented negative
outcomes, and allow a comparison among persons confronted with different
traumatic events in varying contexts. The purpose of the present paper is
to describe the development of such a measure. The Posttraumatic Growth
Inventory (PTGI) measures the extent to which survivors of traumatic
events perceive personal benefits, including changes in perceptions of self,
relationships with others, and philosophy of life, accruing from their at-
tempts to cope with trauma and its aftermath.

Study 1: Item Development and Scale Reliability

Method

The first step in developing a scale measuring perceived benefits was

to create items that reflect the kinds of benefits mentioned in the literature
as described above. In order to create these items, a general review of the
studies was conducted where persons had perceived benefits coming from
an encounter with trauma. Based on the literature review, 34 items were
generated that referred to positive changes frequently mentioned in areas
of perceived changes in self (e.g., I developed new interests.), of a changed
sense of relationships with others (e.g., I accept needing others.), and of
a changed philosophy of life (e.g., My priorities about what is important
in life.). Since these items were designed to determine if positive changes
had occurred as a result of experienced negative events, the items could
not be worded in a negative direction to control for acquiescence in re-
sponding.
Respondents were asked: Indicate for each of the statements below
the degree to which this change occurred in your life as a result of your
Posttraumatic Growth Inventory 459

crisis, using the following scale. A 6-point Likert response format was used,
ranging from “I did not experience this change as a result of my crisis”
(scored 0), to ‘‘I experienced this change to a very great degree as a result
of my crisis” (scored 5). Intermediate scores were given for a very small
degree (l), a small degree (2), a moderate degree (3), and a great degree
(4).
The 34 items, and a demographic data form with a space to describe
a difficult life event, were administered to groups of undergraduate students
who had been recruited from psychology classes at a large university in the
southeastern United States. These persons were selected because they
stated that they had experienced a significant negative life event during
the past 5 years. A total of 199 men and 405 women participated. Ninety
two percent ranged in age from 17 to 25, and 95% were single. The events
the participants had experienced included bereavement (36%), injury-pro-
ducing accidents (16%), separation or divorce of parents (8%), relationship
break-up (7%), criminal victimization (5%), academic problems (4%), un-
wanted pregnancy (2%), and a variety of others. Participants reported that
these events occurred less than 6 months ago in 22% of the cases, between
7 and 12 months ago in 16%, between 13 and 23 months ago in 17%,
between 2 and 4 years ago in 32% and more than 4 years ago in 13% of
the cases.

Results

Principal components anabsis. A principal components analysis was

performed on these items followed by a varimax rotation. This approach
was chosen in order to maximize the distinctions among the components,
given that these 34 items had produced a very high internal consistency (a
= .94). The analysis produced six factors2 with eigenvalues greater than
one. Five of the six factors were easily interpretable and therefore the 21
items loading on these factors were retained as having utility. These ac-
counted for 55% of the common variance and loaded greater than .5 on
one of the five factors without loading .4 or greater on any other factor.
A second principal components analysis and varimax rotation using the se-
lected 21 items produced five factors with eigenvalues greater than one,
identical to those found with 34 items, and accounted for 62% of the com-
mon variance (Table 1). The factors were labeled Relating to Others, New
Possibilities, Personal Strength, Spiritual Change, and Appreciation of Life.
There was a Pearson product-moment correlation of r = .98 between total
*We use the term “factor” to refer to the results of the rotation of the extracted principal
components, following conventional practice (Cooley & Lohnes. 1971).
460 Tedeschi and Calhoun

Table 1. Factor Loadings of 21 Items Selected for the Posttraumatic Growth Inventod
Factor Loadings: I I1 111 IV v
PTGI Item and Factor
Factor I: Relating to Others (17% of Variance)
6. Knowing that I can count on people .67
in times of trouble.
8. A sense of closeness with others. .81
9. A willingness to express my emotions. .63
15. Having compassion for others. .70
16. Putting effort into my relationships. .61
20. I learned a great deal about how .62
wonderful people are.
21. I accept needing others. .67
Factor I 1 New Possibilities (16% of Variance)
3. I developed new interests. .76
7. I established a new path for my life. .80
11. I'm able to do better things with my life. .76
14. New opportunities are available which .76
wouldn't have been otherwise.
17. I'm more likely to try to change things .63
which need changing.
Factor 111: Personal Strength (11% of Variance)
4. A feeling of self-reliance. .62
10. Knowing I can handle difficulties. .79
12. Being able to accept the way things work out. .54
19. I discovered that I'm stronger than .71
I thought I was.
Factor I V Spiritual Change (9% of Variance)
5. A better understanding of spiritual matters. .84
18. I have a stronger religious faith. .83
Factor V Appreciation of Life (9% of Variance)
1. My priorities about what is important in life. SO
2. An appreciation for the value of my own life. .85
13. Appreciating each day. .59
'Items were selected with factor loadings at least .5 and with loadings of less than .4 on other
factors. Loadings and proportions of variance reported are from a principal components
analysis and varimax rotation of 21 items selected from the original item pool.

score based on the 21-item version of the PTGI and the total score based
on 34 items, indicating no significant loss of information by reducing the
number of items in the scale.
There were gender differences for the overall scale, with women re-
porting more benefits (M = 75.18, SD = 21.24) than men (A4 = 67.77, SD
= 22.07) ((1,590) = 3 . 9 4 , ~< .OOl). Women scored higher than men on
evey factor except New Possibilities (see Footnote 1).
Posttraumatic Growth Inventory 461

Internal consistency and test-retest reliability. The internal consistency of

the resulting 21-item FTGI is a = .90. Deletion of individual items did
not result in a drop in alpha below -89, indicating that all items contribute
relatively equally to the consistency of the scale. The factors which emerged
also showed substantial internal consistency: New Possibilities (a = 34);
Relating to Others (a= .85); Personal Strength (a= .72); Spiritual Change
(a= .85); Appreciation of Life (a= .67). In addition, corrected item-total
PTGI correlations (the correlation of each item with the total score across
all remaining 20 items) were all in the moderate range (r = .35 to r =
.63). The Pearson product-moment correlations among the factors ranged
from r = .27 to r = .52, and the correlations of the factors with the PTGI
ranged from r = .62 to r = .83, indicating overlap but some separate con-
tributions by these factors.
A sample of 28 persons was obtained in the same fashion as the larger
sample in order to determine test-retest reliability over two months. The
test-retest reliability for the 21-item FTGI was acceptable at r = .71. Test-
retest reliabilities for the factors ranged from r = .65 to r = .74, except
for Personal Strength (r = .37) and Appreciation of Life (r = .47).

Study 2: Concurrent and Discriminant Validity

Once the set of 21 items for the PTGI was established, it was impor-
tant to determine that the tendency to perceive benefits arising from ex-
periences with trauma was not merely a reflection of some other tendency.
For example, it seemed possible that the PTGI could be highly correlated
with social desirability, since the benefits described appear to be very de-
sirable. Therefore, the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (Crowne
& Marlowe, 1960) was selected in order to examine this possible relation-
ship.
On the other hand, some low to moderate correlations could be ex-
pected between the PTGI and certain personality characteristics that ap-
pear to be related to the tendency to perceive benefits from trauma.
Optimism is an obvious example. Optimists emphasize the positive aspects
of difficult situations, allowing them to redirect their attention to appro-
priate problem-focused coping strategies (Scheier, Weintraub, & Carver,
1986). Perceiving growth also appears to increase optimism (Park et al., in
press). Another relationship with the PTGI is suggested by the negative
correlations reported between optimism and neuroticism (Smith, Pope,
Rhodewalt, & Poulton, 1989). To examine the relationship between opti-
mism and the FTGI, the Life Orientation Test (LOT) (Scheier & Carver,
462 Tedeschi and Calhoun

1985) was used. The eight items scored have an internal consistency of a
= .76, and a test-retest reliability over 4 weeks of r = .79.
Concepts such as resilience (Rutter, 1987) and hardiness (Kobasa,
1979) also could be expected to relate to the tendency to perceive benefits
in the aftermath of trauma, since they involve the ability to cope success-
fully with stressful events or life circumstances. These concepts are related
to other personality characteristics. For example, Rutter (1987) and Gar-
mezy (1994) described personality factors of self-esteem and self-efficacy
as associated with resilience in children. Stutman and Baruch (1992) see
resilience as including “intrapsychic strengths” of trust, self-regulation,
autonomy, self-esteem, empathy, altruism, internal locus of control, flexi-
bility, and optimism.
In order to explore the possible relationships between the ability to
perceive benefits in trauma and various personality characteristics, we de-
cided to use a general, comprehensive, and well-validated measure of the
“big five” personality factors (McCrae, 1992). We chose the NEO Person-
ality Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1985), which is comprised of scales of
Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and
Conscientiousness. Internal consistency of the five scales is .85 or above,
and test-retest reliabilities for the first three scales is .86 or greater over
6 months (Costa & McCrae, 1985). Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Open-
ness have correlated r = -.17, r = .20, and r = .19, respectively, with use
of a coping strategy of “drawing strength from adversity” (McCrae & Costa,
1986).
Finally, since changes in religious beliefs have been found among per-
sons coping with trauma, and since religion serves as a coping strategy for
many people, we included a measure of religious participation in order to
determine if persons who are more actively religious are more likely to
have perceived benefits. We used a three-item measure (Pressman, Lyons,
Larson, & Strain, 1990) for this purpose.
We expected that the PTGI should be unrelated to social desirability,
moderately and positively correlated with optimism, extraversion, openness,
and religious participation, and negatively correlated with neuroticism.

Method

Some participants in Study 1 were administered, in addition to the

PTGI, in random order, the NEO Personality Inventory (n = 325) (Costa
& McCrae, 1985), the LOT (n = 449), the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desir-
ability Scale (n = 318), and the index of religious participation (n = 237).
Participants also completed two 6-point Likert ratings: the positive effect
Posttraumatic Growth Inventory 463

and the negative effect the event had on the person, ranging from “no
effect” to “extreme effect.”

Results

Correlations between the F’TGI and other measures mentioned here

are at the p < -01 or p < .001 levels, although others reached significance
a t p < .05.
Demographic and situational variables. There was no relationship be-
tween age of the participants (although the range was quite restricted) and
F’TGI score (r = .01, n.s.), or between time since the event and the PTGI
(r = .02, n.s.). Sixty percent of participants reported some to extreme posi-
tive effect on themselves, and 94% reported some to extreme negative ef-
fect of these events. The correlation between the rated positive effect of
the event, using the 6-point Likert scale, and PTGI scores was r = .24, p
c .01. The correlation between the PTGI and rated negative effect was r
= .21, p < .01.
Social desirability. The PTGI was not related to social desirability, but
persons reporting greater Appreciation of Life tended to respond in a
slightly less socially desirable fashion (r = -.15, p < .Ol).
Personality. There were many relationships between the PTGI, the
PTGI factors, and personality. The PTGI was positively correlated with op-
timism, religiosity, and all the major dimensions of personality except
neuroticism (Table 2). Persons scoring higher on the New Possibilities factor
also reported themselves to be more optimistic, extraverted, and open to
experience. Persons scoring higher on Relating to Others reported them-
selves to be more optimistic, extraverted, and agreeable. Persons scoring
higher on Personal Strength reported themselves to be more optimistic,
extraverted, open to experience, and conscientious. Persons scoring higher
on Appreciation of Life reported themselves to be more optimistic and
extraverted. Persons scoring higher on Spiritual Change reported them-
selves to be more optimistic, religious, and extraverted. Certain specific fac-
ets of the major NEO personality domains were primarily responsible for
the relationships between those personality factors and the PTGI and its
factors. Three facets in particular were related to all PTGI factors and to
the total PTGI most strongly: the Extraversion facets of Activity (r = .31
with PTGI) and Positive Emotions (r = .34 with PTGI), and the Openness
facet of Feelings (r = .28 with PTGI). Some specific facets were related
to the FTGI factors even though the major domain they comprise were
not. For example, the Openness to Experience facet of values was nega-
tively correlated with PTGI Spiritual Change (r = -.15).
464 Tedeschi and Calhoun

Table 2. PTGI and Factors Correlated with Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability, Life
Orientation Test Optimism, Religious Participation, and NEO Personality Inventory
Factorf
M-C LOT Relig NEO NEO NEO NEO NEO
Social Des Optimism Partic Neurotic Extraver Openness Agreeable Conscien
PTGI Factor
I: Relating to
others .14 .28 .18
11: New
possibilities .22 .16 .25
111: Personal
strength .22 .15 .25 .15
I V Spiritual
change .17 .Sob .26
V. Appreciation
of life -.15 .I5 .I6
Total PTGI .23 .25 29 .21 .I8 .I6
"Only correlations significant at p < .01 or greater are included.
bp < .ool.

Study 3: Construct Validity

In order to examine the construct validity of the PTGI, an attempt was

made to determine if the FTGI measures some benefits unique to trauma,
comparing persons who had experienced only ordinary life events with those
who experienced severely traumatic events. Since the PTGI is designed to
measure benefits perceived as arising from the struggle with trauma, it was
hypothesized that persons experiencing severe trauma would report more
benefits than those whose beliefs and perceptions were not challenged by
extraordinary events. This may occur because traumatic events trigger rumi-
nation focused on searches for meaning, and ways to reconfigure goals given
that certain possibilities in life have become impossibilities '(Martin, Tesser,
& McIntosh, 1993; lkdeschi & Calhoun, 1995). As suggested by the relation-
ship between reports of negative effects of trauma and F'TGI scores in Study
2, there is emerging evidence that more intense experiences with trauma may
produce greater benefits (Stutts, Calhoun, Xdeschi, & Cann, 1994). Further-
more, it is important to determine if people who have not experienced trauma
would be likely to report similar positive developments as those who have
experienced traumatic events, given that people have a general tendency to
engage in self-enhancing thinking (Fiske & Bylor, 1991), and in particular
may revise their own personal histories (Greenwald, 1980) in response to
trauma.
Posttraumatic Growth Inventory 465

Method

Subjects. Data were obtained from a sample of 194 participants re-

cruited from general psychology laboratory courses at the same university
as students from Studies 1 and 2. The responses of 117 were selected for
analysis based on an index of the presence and severity of trauma experi-
ence. Fifty four (23 men and 31 women) reported at least one major trauma
of great severity in the previous year, and 63 (32 men and 31 women) re-
ported none. Ninety five percent of participants were between the ages of
18 and 28, 93% were single, and 85% were Protestant.
Materials and procedure. In groups of approximately 25, participants
completed FTGI items with instructions that asked individuals to respond
by rating “the changes that had occurred to them during the past year.”
This was a modification of the instructions used in Study 1, since a par-
ticular event was not referred to as responsible for change. Participants
also completed the Traumatic Stress Schedule (Norris, 1990), an
epidemiologic screening instrument designed to assess the occurrence and
impact of traumatic events (e.g., robbery, criminal assault, natural disaster,
etc.). Responses to this instrument were used to separate persons who had
reported no traumatic events from those who had reported at least one
intensely traumatic event in the past year, resulting in a 2 (gender) x 2
(severe trauma or no trauma) design.

Results

A gender x severity of trauma analysis of variance with the total PTGI

score as the dependent variable showed that women reported more benefits
(A4= 81.60, SD = 21.09) than did men (M = 70.25; SD = 21.87) (F(1,113)
= 10.69,p < .001), and persons experiencing severe trauma reported more
benefits ( M = 83.16, SD = 19.27) than those who did not ( M = 69.75, SD
= 20.47) (F(1,113) = 12.33, p c .OOl). The gender x severity interaction
was not significant (F(1,113) = 1.70).
A gender x severity of trauma multivariate analysis of variance with
the five €“GI factors as dependent variables also demonstrated that women
reported more benefits than did men (F(53,5) = 3.68, p < .Ol), and persons
experiencing severe trauma reported more benefits than those who did not
(F(53,5) = 3.61, p c .01). The gender x severity interaction was not sig-
nificant (F(53,5) = 1.36). Univariate tests showed that women had higher
scores than men for the New Possibilities factor (F(1,113) = 6 . 1 5 , ~< .05),
the Relating to Others factor (F(1,113) = 6.93, p c .Ol), the Personal
Strength factor (F(1,113) = 4 . 9 6 , ~c .05), and the Spiritual Change factor
466 Tedeschi and Calhouo

Table 3. Means for PTGI and Factors for Persons in Study 3 Reporting One or
More Severe Traumas in the Past 12 Months Versus Those Reporting No Trauma
Women Men
No trauma Trauma No Trauma Trauma
PTGI Factor (n = 31) (n = 31) (n = 32) (n = 23)

I: Relating to others 23.94 29.68 22.16 23.30

11: New possibilities 18.26 20.94 15.19 18.35
111: Personal strength 14.65 17.90 13.63 15.30
I V Spiritual change 6.48 8.29 5.56 4.96
V. Appreciation of life 10.16 13.45 9.59 11.70
Total FTGI 73.49 90.26 66.13 73.61

-=
(F(1,113) = 1 4 . 0 9 , ~ .OOl), but not for the Appreciation of Life factor
(F(1,113) = 3.26, n.s.) (Table 3).
Persons who had experienced severe trauma, compared to persons ex-
periencing no trauma, had higher scores on the New Possibilities factor
(F(1,113) = 6.54, p < .05), the Relating to Others factor (F(1,113) = 4.95,
p < .05), the Personal Strength factor (F(1,113) = 9.23, p < .Ol), and the
Appreciation of Life factor (F(1,113) = 17.58, p c .001), but not the Spiri-
tual Change factor (F(1,113) = 1.12, n.s.).

Discussion

The studies described here indicate that the FTGI has good internal
consistency, acceptable test-retest reliability, and that among persons re-
porting a variety of life difficulties, scores on the scale are approximately
normally distributed. In addition, responses are generally unrelated to the
motive to appear socially desirable. Although some might find fault with
the use of college student samples in the development of this measure,
college students are comparable to the general population in terms of ex-
perience with trauma (Vrana & Lauterbach, 1994). It is clear our partici-
pants experienced significant trauma, especially the trauma group in Study
3 that was selected for their experience of severe trauma.
In the wording of the FTGI items, the possible benefits are treated
as outcomes of coping with traumatic events. The perception of benefits,
however, has also been treated as a coping process of positive reinterpre-
tation, positive reframing, interpretive control, or reconstrual (e.g., Carver
et al., 1993; Rothbaum, Weisz, & Snyder, 1982) of events. The PTGI ap-
Posttraumatic Growth Inventory 467

pears to measure a general tendency to experience difficult events in a way

that produces perceptions of benefits, but its focus is on the variety of pos-
sible benefits that may be discovered or construed, given that people may
find some benefits and not others.
Although there is some variation in the pattern of correlations of the
five factors of the PTGI and other measures, perceiving these benefits is
most consistently associated with the personality traits of extraversion, to
the tendency to be open to internal experience, and to optimism. It is un-
clear whether these traits existed before the traumatic events or were af-
fected by them. Longitudinal study of personality before and after
bereavement (McCrae & Costa, 1993) suggests that these general person-
ality traits existed before the traumatic events, and endured relatively un-
changed afterward. Therefore, personality might allow for perception of
particular benefits. For example, people who are open to experience are
used to examining their experiences and seeing them as less threatening
and potentially beneficial. Extroverts can better tolerate stimulation and
use social support. The only relationship NEO Agreeableness had with the
PTGI involved the Relating to Others factor, suggesting that people who
are agreeable may find that others respond more supportively to them after
trauma. NEO Conscientiousness related only to PTGI Personal Strength,
suggesting that people who are already disciplined and orderly rely on, de-
velop, and appreciate this ability after trauma. Although we measured re-
ligious participation only after the traumas, the strong correlation between
the religious participation measure and the PTGI Spiritual Change factor
suggests that religious persons may also rely on this form of coping and
strengthen themselves in this area.
The issue of whether the experienced events produced changes in fun-
damental assumptions or strengthened existing beliefs cannot be answered
unambiguously by referring to the PTGI scores. Persons reporting benefits
may have experienced a qualitative shift in their views, and therefore report
an change, or a quantitative shift might also feel “extreme” to
some persons. Means on the scale indicate that persons experiencing severe
trauma (Study 3) tend to report a great degree of change, while persons
reporting no extraordinary events report a “small” to “moderate” degree.
This may indicate that an event which is so extreme as to “shatter” fun-
damental assumptions (Janoff-Bulman, 1992) may produce more positive
change than less challenging circumstances. However, it appears that there
is a tendency to perceive some positive change as occurring regardless of
the circumstances, at least among late adolescents and young adults. But,
this perception of positive change is stronger for persons who have expe-
rienced trauma. We also found that these positive changes were unrelated
to the passage of time, indicating that it is likely that variables such as
468 Tedeschi and Calhoun

characteristics of survivors, and what circumstances they face as they re-

cover, are more important in determining perception of benefits than mere
passage of time after a trauma.
The tendency of women to score higher than men on the PTGI sug-
gests that men and women differ in their responses to trauma. Factor scores
indicate that the greatest differences exist in ability to perceive spiritual
and relationship changes. These are areas that women may rely on more
as they cope, allowing the experience of using the coping strategies related
to these areas of life to have a greater effect (Bijur, Wallston, Smith, Lifrak,
& Friedman, 1993). Somewhat less of a gender difference was found in
perceptions of new possibilities and personal strength, but still women were
more likely to perceive these changes than men. Given that the PTGI
scores of severely traumatized women were twice as high as those of trau-
matized men, using the “no trauma” group in Study 3 as a baseline, it is
suggested that these events have a greater effect on women in that women
may be more capable than men of learning or benefiting from difficult life
experiences. A prospective study is needed to determine if this is indeed
the case.
The construal of benefits has appeared to be related to “objective”
measures of psychological adjustment and well-being in some studies
(Goodhart, 1985; Smith, Houston, & Stucky, 1982) but not others (Carver
et al., 1993; Joseph et al., 1993; Lehman et al., 1993). The lack of a rela-
tionship between NEO Neuroticism and the PTGI in Study 2 indicates that
the PTGI is not generally related to psychological health, but represents a
separate construct. Positive and negative effects of traumatic events prob-
ably coexist in the same person (Aldwin, 1994), and this was apparent when
virtually all participants in Study 2 reported negative effects of their trau-
mas, and 60% also perceived positive effects. When people perceive bene-
fits, they do not appear to deny the difficulties.
A key issue in further addressing the construct validity of the scale, is
investigating the degree to which benefits measured by the PTGI are “il-
lusory” (Taylor & Brown, 1988). Our initial study of constkct validity sug-
gests that scores on the PTGI are not simply a function of a positivity bias
that operates in many areas (Fiske & Eylor, 1991). Additional work will
determine the extent to which perceived benefits can be objectively as-
sessed. For example, perceptions of trauma survivors might be compared
with persons in their support networks (Park et al., in press). However, it
appears that to trauma survivors, the changes reported are quite real. The
particular benefits described may even be elements of a developing wisdom,
given that wisdom has been described as a dialectic “bounded by the tran-
scendence of limitations and . . . by their acceptance . . . tested by circum-
stances in which we have to decide what is changeable and what is not”
Posttraumatic Growth Inventory 469

(Birren & Fisher, 1990, p. 324). Adopting these beliefs and seeing the trau-
matic event as an experience with some meaning and benefit is almost cer-
tainly a comfort. The tendency to see good coming from trauma may be
more fruitfully addressed with a measure that can be used to compare or
contrast the experiences of persons who are survivors of trauma. With the
development of the PTGI, investigators who are interested in the person-
alities, coping styles, and other processes related to a tendency to respond
to difficult life experiences in a positive fashion now have a measure to
use to compare responses of men and women of different ages to a variety
of traumatic events in different contexts. This can further our under-
standing of the natural processes people use as they struggle with the af-
termath of trauma to derive meaning, feel wiser, and face uncertain futures
with more confidence.

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