Optimism and Perceived Social Support as Predictors of Posttraumatic Growth Among Emerging Adults After the Death of a Parent

DOI

10.2991/assehr.k.201125.033How to use a DOI?

Keywords

death of a parent, emerging adulthood, optimism, perceived social support, posttraumatic growth

Abstract

For an individual in emerging adulthood (the transitional stage between adolescence and adulthood), the experience of a parent’s death can be a traumatic event that challenges the individual’s way of understanding the world. However, the experience can also bring positive changes as a result of the individual’s struggle with the crisis of parental death. That change, called posttraumatic growth, can be influenced by personal factors, such as optimism, and environmental factors, such as perceived social support. This study aimed to examine whether optimism and perceived social support predicted posttraumatic growth. The study design was a quantitative and cross-sectional study using the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI), revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R), and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) as measurements. Participants were 66 emerging adults aged 18–25 years who experienced a parent’s death in the past 6 months to 3 years before the study. Results of regression analysis showed that optimism did not predict posttraumatic growth, whereas high perceived social support predicted high posttraumatic growth. Moreover, perceived social support from the family was the only source that positively predicted posttraumatic growth. This study suggests that social support is important to promote posttraumatic growth. Based on these results, mental health professionals can arrange intervention to increase social support to foster a better mental health condition for emerging adults who recently lost a parent.

Copyright

© 2020, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Evita Pamela Putri
AU  - Lifina Dewi Pohan
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/11/27
TI  - Optimism and Perceived Social Support as Predictors of Posttraumatic Growth Among Emerging Adults After the Death of a Parent
BT  - Joint proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Intervention and Applied Psychology (ICIAP 2019) and the 4th Universitas Indonesia Psychology Symposium for Undergraduate Research (UIPSUR 2019)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 390
EP  - 401
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.201125.033
DO  - 10.2991/assehr.k.201125.033
ID  - Putri2020
ER  -