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Post-Traumatic Growth from Life’s Most Traumatic Event: Influences on Elders’ Current Coping and Adjustment

University of Connecticut, Crystal.park{at}uconn.edu

Mary Alice Mills-Baxter

University of Connecticut

Juliane R. Fenster

University of Connecticut

This study examined the lasting impact of post-traumatic growth from elders’ most traumatic life experiences. The sample consisted of 83 participants (61 women, 22 men; mean age = 77.9) who reported on their most stressful or traumatic life experience and their post-traumatic growth resulting from these events. They also reported on their current most stressful event and how they coped with this event. One month later, 69 participants reported on their coping with their current most stressful experience, their attitudes towards death, and their mental and physical health. Results suggest that post-traumatic growth from events that occurred even many years earlier may have favorable influences on subsequent coping, death attitudes, and adjustment to recent stressors.

Key Words: posttraumatic growth (PTG) • coping • death attitudes • adjustment • Stress-Related Growth Scale (SRGS)

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