Posttraumatic growth and well-being among body handlers: The role of resilience, coping strategies, and belief in a just world

This study examined psychological adaptation among 161 Israeli reserve soldiers who served as body handlers following the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack. The study assessed posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTS), posttraumatic growth (PTG), well-being (WB), resilience, belief in a just world (BJW), and coping strategies. Regression analyses revealed that resilience and BJW were positively associated with WB, while PTS negatively predicted it. PTG was predicted by younger age, higher PTS, resilience, and emotion-focused acceptance coping, whereas emotion-focused distancing coping was a negative predictor. Significant interactions were found: BJW was positively associated with PTG among older participants and those with high PTS; emotional acceptance was linked to WB among younger participants; and resilience was positively related to WB among those experiencing high PTS. The results highlight that PTG and WB are distinct yet coexisting indicators of adaptation. While WB was linked to resilience and cognitive frameworks such as BJW, PTG appeared to emerge from distress combined with reflective and meaning-making processes. These findings underscore the psychological complexity of post-trauma responses in extreme conditions and point to the importance of fostering both resilience and adaptive cognitive coping in trauma-exposed populations.