Coping, rumination and posttraumatic growth in people affected by an earthquake

Background: In this article, the evaluation of a structural model that seeks to identify predictors and mediators of posttraumatic growth (PTG) of people affected by a natural disaster is presented. Method: The sample was composed of 349 adult men and women who experienced the earthquake and tsunami on February 27, 2010 in Chile. A modeling with structural equations was used, contrasting two predictive models of PTG. The latent variables assessed were subjective severity, social sharing of emotion, intrusive rumination, deliberate rumination, problem-focused coping and posttraumatic growth. Results: The best fit was obtained with the model that shows a direct influence of the subjective severity, problem-focused coping, and deliberate rumination in the presence of PTG. Problem-focused coping mediated the relation between subjective severity and social sharing with PTG. In turn, deliberate rumination mediated the relation of problem-focused coping and intrusive rumination with PTG. Conclusions: The results show the relevant role of cognitive processes such as deliberate rumination and behavioral processes such as problem-focused coping in the presence of PTG.