In recent years, trauma research has paid as much attention to adolescent survivors as to adult survivors (e.g., Alisic et al., 2011; Hafstad et al., 2011; Kilmer et al., 2014). Post-traumatic growth (PTG), defined as a “positive change experienced as a result of the struggle with highly challenging life circumstances that represent significant challenges to the adaptive resources of the individual” (Tedeschi and Calhoun, 2004, p. 1), has received considerable attention in research literature on adolescence (Zoellner and Maercker, 2006; Clay et al., 2009; Taku, 2011). There is some debate about the PTG of adolescents. Although previous studies have laid a solid groundwork, several salient questions remain unanswered. First, is PTG defensive or self-presentational (McMillen, 2004). Some scholars insisted that respondents may attempt to paint a more positive picture of their lives. When people report growth in the immediate months following loss or trauma, some part of this growth might indicate the strategy of self-protection, which may be an important aspect of the growth process (Davis and McKearney, 2003). It is argued that growth takes time to emerge. Therefore, existence of PTG soon after the event may serve as a coping strategy in order to reduce distress, and more data collection points after a trauma is suggested to verify the nature of PTG (Hall et al., 2010; Kilmer et al., 2014). Moreover, the research interest has been exploring the impact mechanism of PTG following traumatic events (Kilmer et al., 2009; Kilmer and Gil-Rivas, 2010; Meyerson et al., 2011), in which the impact of personality and positive coping on PTG have been highlighted (Prati and Pietrantoni, 2009; Moore et al., 2015; Zerach, 2015).

Personality, a stable psychological resource with cross-situational stability and propensity, plays an important role in the development of PTG (Zerach, 2015). Costa and McCrae’s five factor model of personality (FFM; 1992) consists of extraversion, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness dimensions. Previous studies showed that all five dimensions of personality play important role in leading to negative outcomes or PTG following traumatic events (Meuser and Marwit, 2000; Linley and Joseph, 2004; Shakespeare-Finch et al., 2005; Moran et al., 2013; Moore et al., 2015). More specifically, neuroticism is often correlated to a pathogenic post-traumatic outcome (Affleck and Tennen, 1996; Watson and Hubbard, 1996), while extraversion is found to be positively associated with positive perceptions of trauma (Tedeschi and Calhoun, 1996); openness is associated with the tendency to use cognitive strategies, which in turn leads to higher scores in measures of PTG (Tedeschi and Calhoun, 1996; Edwards et al., 1998). Meanwhile, agreeable individuals are more likely to perceive positive changes after experiencing traumatic events, and conscientiousness is characterized by self-control and self-efficacy. Individuals with high conscientiousness tend to be more meticulous and self-disciplined, pursuing goals with high tenacity, which in turn facilitates PTG (Costa and McCrae, 1992; Tedeschi and Calhoun, 1996).

In addition to the examination of the relation between personality and PTG, efforts have been made to identify mechanisms through which individuals with certain personalities develop PTG or factors that influence this development (Zhou et al., 2015b). As personality traits are widely accepted as fundamental, it is of great interest to explore the proximal mechanisms through which personality influences PTG (Robinson and Marwit, 2006). Park and Folkman (1997) proposed a transactional model to explain the effecting mechanisms of PTG. In the transactional model, PTG is produced by the interaction of stable human traits and traumatic events; personality has a stable role in the prediction of PTG, and this effect is most likely to occur through the mediating effect of cognitive evaluation and response. Moran et al. (2013) proposed that the acquisition of PTG involves the use of adaptive coping skills in the face of trauma: in other words, adaptive coping skills such as positive appraisal facilitates PTG (Prati and Pietrantoni, 2009; Pietrzak et al., 2011).

Coping refers to the process individual dealing with the demands and emotions caused by stressful events (McCammon et al., 1988; Lazarus, 1999; Shakespeare-Finch et al., 2005). It is between stressors and individual health that appropriate coping can alleviate stress in individual situations of trauma. Personality-coping-outcome theory suggested that, personality influences coping in different manners in the context of stressful events, which further influences psychological outcomes (Zhou et al., 2017). The theory suggests that coping style mediates the relationship between personality and psychological outcomes. Some evidence showed that coping style mediates the relation between personality and PTG of adolescents. For instance, empirical research suggested that personality was significantly related to coping and personality may influence one’s coping style (Connor-Smith and Flachsbart, 2007). Moreover, other studies have shown that positive reappraisal of the traumatic event is not only critical to successful adaptation, but also a prerequisite for personal growth (Janoff-Bulman, 1992; Calhoun and Tedeschi, 1998; Prati and Pietrantoni, 2009). Therefore, the coping process is considered a mediating variable between individuals and post-trauma outcome (Calhoun et al., 2000).

As showed in Table 1, the mean of PTG is 2.87 (SD = 0.93). Next, the Pearson correlation among different variables are analyzed, and it is shown that personality, positive cognition coping, and PTG are significantly correlated with each other.

A mediated model of the Big Five, positive cognition coping, and PTG was examined. The Big Five were taken as exogenous variables, and PTG and positive cognition coping as endogenous variables. We hypothesized that positive cognition coping would mediated the relationship between the Big Five and PTG. SEM was performed to examine the hypothesis by AMOS (Arbuckle and Wothke, 1999). Goodness of fit indices such as CFI, TLI, NFI, RMSEA were chosen to assess the model’s fit (Bentler, 1990). A good fit was indicated by the model fit indices: χ²/df = 3.295, Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0.996, Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) = 0.962, Non-normed Fit Index (NFI) = 0.994, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) = 0.055. The criteria for every indices was: CFI > 0.90, TLI > 0.90, NFI > 0.90, RMSEA > 0.08. The model, shown in Figure 1, was therefore accepted.

A significant indirect effect was necessary for mediation assumption (Preacher and Hayes, 2004). A mediational test was conducted to reveal the indirect effects so that the mediating role of positive cognition coping between personality and PTG can be determined. Table 2 shows different mediated pathway effects in this model.

In regard to PTG, test results suggested that higher extraversion predicted greater PTG partially through increased positive cognition coping (with the indirect effect = 0.040, 95% CI [0.012, 0.071]). Conscientiousness also indirectly predicted greater PTG partially through increased positive cognition coping (with the indirect effect = 0.032, 95% CI [0.008, 0.063]). Agreeableness indirectly predicted greater PTG fully through increased positive cognition coping (0.171, 95% CI [0.004, 0.064]). Additionally, openness indirectly predicted greater PTG fully through increased positive cognition coping (0.167, 95% CI [0.004, 0.052]).

In conclusion, these results indicated that positive cognition coping fully mediated the effects of agreeableness and openness on PTG. Besides, the effects of extraversion and conscientiousness on PTG were direct but also indirect, partially mediated by positive cognition coping.

The goal of this study was to examine the level of PTG 42 months after the earthquake as well as to test a comprehensive model including positive cognition coping as mediating variables in the relationship between personality and PTG among adolescent survivors.

The study found that 42 months after the Wenchuan earthquake, adolescents had a medium level of PTG. Previous research found that adolescents had a higher level of PTG in the short term. For instance, Jia et al. (2015) presented in their research that 12 months after the Wenchuan earthquake, the mean score of PTG for adolescents was 3.10 (SD = 0.91). As time went by, the level of PTG went down a little bit; as it is shown in our study, the mean score was 2.87 (SD = 0.93). Meanwhile, Zhou et al. (2015a) also examined the level of PTG for adolescent survivors 5.5 years after the Wenchuan earthquake and found the level of PTG was 2.74 (SD = 0.91). The results of this study may provide some clues to the question of whether PTG is a self-defense coping strategy or a real positive change. One year after the earthquake, the level of PTG was higher. This implies that in the early stages of adaptation, seeking growth may serve as a defense to cope with distress. In other words, soon after the earthquake, PTG could have served as both a coping strategy and real growth. However, the level of PTG went down as time went by; nevertheless, adolescents may experience true growth eventually. It implies that at the very beginning, PTG may mainly serve as a self-enhancing illusion in order to help individuals reduce emotional distress; however, the real growth shall come about if they stick to this “positive illusion” long enough.

In addition, the SEM showed that positive cognition coping fully mediated the effects of agreeableness and openness on PTG. Besides, the effects of extraversion and conscientiousness on PTG were direct but also indirect, partially mediated by positive cognition coping. That is, the impact of extraversion and conscientiousness on PTG worked not only in a direct way, but improved PTG with positive cognition coping.

The results verify the interaction model; namely, positive changes after experiencing trauma are produced by the interaction of stable human traits and a traumatic event. Personality on the forecast of PTG has a stable effect, and this effect is likely to work through the intermediary role of cognitive appraisal and coping. Coping is cognitive and behavioral patterns of individuals when faced with stressful situations and crises. Coping not only can ease the emotional trauma caused by the crisis, but also can promote youth to have deeper cognitive processing and active mediation, and take on well-adapted coping strategies so that they will have a higher potential to develop and a higher level of physical and mental growth. Positive coping has a high positive correlation with multiple dimensions of PTG and could significantly predict growth (Bellizzi and Blank, 2006).

YA designed the current study. XD collected and analyzed data. FF wrote this article.

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.