Social support coping mediates the relationship between gender and posttraumatic growth.
Females tend to report greater levels of posttraumatic growth following trauma than males. Little is known about why such an association exists. This study examined whether social support coping might mediate the relationship between gender and posttraumatic growth. College students and community residing adults ( N = 221) recalled a stressful or traumatic event that they had recently experienced and responded to measures of posttraumatic growth and coping while keeping this event in mind. Gender was significantly associated with both social support coping and growth while social support coping was a partial mediator of the relationship between gender and posttraumatic growth.
Swickert
Rhonda
R
College of Charleston, SC 29424, USA. swickertr@cofc.edu
Hittner
James
J
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors; D012944:Social Support; D014481:United States; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult