The relationship between grief, resilience and posttraumatic growth in bereaved university students

Losing someone close is an extremely difficult and painful experience. Nevertheless, the notion of posttraumatic growth suggests that individuals in grief can also experience positive changes following bereavement. Resilience, as a capacity to recover from the difficulties quickly and return to the previous status, may contribute to the process of posttraumatic growth. The thesis examines the relationship between grief, resilience and posttraumatic growth of the bereaved. There were three hypotheses: 1) resilience and posttraumatic growth are positively correlated, 2) grief and posttraumatic growth are in a curvilinear (Inverted U-shaped) relationship, and 3) resilience strengthens the curvilinear relationship between grief and posttraumatic growth. The sample consisted of 155 university students who had lost someone close within 3 to 24 months prior to the study. Their levels of grief, resilience and posttraumatic growth were assessed by means of Relational Active Grieving Scale, Posttraumatic Growth Inventory and Brief Resilience Scale, respectively. As a result, weak but positive correlation was found between resilience and posttraumatic growth. However, the relationship was not linear. On the other hand, a stronger, negative correlation was found between resilience and grief. A statistically significant quadratic regression suggested an inverted U-shaped curvilinear relationship between grief and posttraumatic growth. Comparative analyses between the low and high resilience groups revealed that the curvilinear relationship between grief and posttraumatic growth was enhanced by resilience which acts as a moderator. Thus, all three hypotheses were basically retained. Clinical implications and suggestions for future research were presented.