Citation

Davis EB, Van Tongeren DR, McElroy-Heltzel SE, Davis DE, Rice KG, Hook JN, Aten JD, Park CL, Shannonhouse L, Lemke AW. J. Pers. 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Wheaton College, School of Psychology, Counseling, and Family Therapy.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/jopy.12537

PMID

31863719

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Religious/spiritual (R/S) growth is a core domain of posttraumatic growth (PTG). However, research on R/S growth following disasters has over-relied on retrospective self-reports of growth. We therefore examined longitudinal change in religiousness/spirituality following two disasters.

METHOD: Religious survivors of Hurricanes Harvey (Study 1) and Irma (Study 2) completed measures of perceived R/S PTG, general religiousness/spirituality ("current standing"-R/S PTG), and subfacets of religiousness/spirituality (spiritual fortitude, religious motivations, and benevolent theodicies). In Study 1,451 participants responded at 1-month and 2-months postdisaster. In Study 2, participants responded within 5-days predisaster and at 1-month (N = 1,144) and 6-months postdisaster (N = 684).

RESULTS: In both studies, perceived R/S PTG was weakly related to longitudinal increases in general religiousness/spirituality and most of its subfacets, but reliable growth in any R/S outcome was rare. Additionally, Study 2 revealed evidence that actual change in psychological well-being is associated with actual (but not perceived) R/S PTG, but disaster survivors tend to exhibit declines in their R/S, spiritual fortitude, and religious motivations.

CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest disaster survivors are only modestly accurate in perceiving how much positive R/S change they experience following a disaster. We discuss implications for clinical practice, research, and empirical and conceptual work on PTG more broadly.

© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Language: en

Keywords

disasters; longitudinal; posttraumatic growth; religion; spirituality