Optimism, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and Posttraumatic Growth Among Adolescents: A Longitudinal Analysis of the Mediating Effects of Adversity Belief and Affect

This study investigated the mediating roles of positive adversity beliefs and affect in the relationships between optimism, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and posttraumatic growth (PTG) among adolescents. We conducted three assessment waves 8.5 (T1), 9.5 (T2), and 10 (T3) years after the Wenchuan earthquake. Overall, 449 earthquake survivors (M_age = 13.44, SD = 1.31 years) completed questionnaires regarding optimism (T1), PTSD (T3), PTG (T3), positive adversity beliefs (T2), positive affect (T2), and negative affect (T2). After controlling for adolescents’ gender, age, trauma exposure, school performance, and their parents’ working status, optimism was directly associated with PTSD and indirectly associated with PTSD via positive adversity beliefs, negative affect, and “positive adversity beliefs-negative affect”. Optimism was indirectly associated with PTG via positive adversity beliefs, positive affect, negative affect, “positive adversity beliefs-positive affect”, and “positive adversity beliefs-negative affect”. These findings suggested that PTSD and PTG were influenced by different mechanisms: positive affect fostered PTG and negative affect accelerated both PTSD and PTG. Therefore, posttraumatic psychological services should focus on helping adolescents cultivate optimism and positive beliefs and develop emotion regulation skills.