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Predictors of posttraumatic growth Amanda Gleeson (24163329) PUREID: 217339266 Posttraumatic Growth Trauma Attachment Adults This research portfolio, submitted in part fulfillment for the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, contains a systematic literature review, and a large-scale research project. Both papers were prepared for submission to peer-reviewed journals. The individual paper abstracts are detailed below. (i) Abstract of Systematic Review: Posttraumatic growth refers to positive psychological changes occurring following exposure to traumatising life events. Attachment styles have been demonstrated to predict post-trauma outcomes. The present review explored the relationship between attachment styles and posttraumatic growth via meta-analytic review of 16 studies, examining the relationship between posttraumatic growth and secure, dismissive, preoccupied, and fearful attachment styles. Four correlational meta-analyses revealed a significant small positive relationship between secure attachment and posttraumatic growth (r= .22, p<.001); a significant small negative relationship between dismissive attachment and posttraumatic growth (r=-.12, p<.001), an extremely weak relationship between preoccupied attachment and posttraumatic growth (r=.01, p=.85), and a significant small positive relationship between fearful attachment and posttraumatic growth (r=.11, p<.05). Findings provide useful information for clinicians regarding the potential impact of attachment style following traumatising exposure, and have implications for psychological assessment, formulation, and intervention goal-setting. (ii) Abstract of large-scale research project: Objective: This study examined a model of predictors of posttraumatic growth in a sample of 85 trauma-exposed adults. It sought to establish the predictive relationship between posttraumatic stress and growth, and whether this was impacted by trauma-related factors (trauma typology, time since most distressing trauma), demographic characteristics (age, gender and number of psychological therapy sessions) and trauma appraisals (betrayal, self-blame, fear, alienation, anger and shame). Method: A quantitative survey methodology was employed in this cross-sectional study. Participants were 56 males and 28 females, with a mean age of 48.26 years, recruited from psychological support services in Northern Ireland. Participants had experienced an average of 4.11 traumatising events. Results: Hierarchical multiple regression modelling was used to analyse predictors. This demonstrated that the number of psychological therapy sessions participants had attended ( = .33, p = .009) and betrayal-based trauma appraisals ( = .47, p = .001) were positive predictors of posttraumatic growth. Shame-based appraisals negatively predicted posttraumatic growth ( = -.42, p = .020). In the final model, posttraumatic stress, trauma-related factors, age, gender, and four of the six trauma appraisals were non-significant predictors. Conclusion: The predictive relationship between posttraumatic stress and growth may be better explained by the number of psychological therapy sessions the participant has had, and appraisals of betrayal and shame. 2026-10-01T17:31:08Z Text Thesis 10.17034/32629803.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/Predictors_of_posttraumatic_growth/32629803 All Rights Reserved