Trauma or growth after a natural disaster? The mediating role of rumination processes

The aim of this study was to test a cognitive model of posttraumatic symptoms (PTS) and posttraumatic growth (PTG) after exposure to a natural disaster. It was hypothesized that although subjective severity of trauma would be related to the severity of PTS, this relation would be mediated by brooding and cognitive strategies related to the presence of repetitive negative content in thoughts. Furthermore, the relation between severity and PTG would be fully mediated by deliberate rumination (DR), cognitive strategies related to conscious efforts focused on handling the event. To evaluate the cognitive model, adults (N=351) who lost their homes as a result of the earthquake and tsunami that occurred in Chile on February 27, 2010, were selected. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. The resulting model had adequate indices of goodness adjustment and showed that brooding completely mediated the relation between subjective severity and PTS, and DR completely mediated the relation between subjective severity, brooding, and PTG. These results highlight the role of both the content and process of rumination in mediating the association between subjective severity of trauma, PTS, and PTG. The implications of these results for a more comprehensive model of symptom severity that occurs after trauma are discussed.