Personality Traits and Coping Mechanisms in the

Development of Post- Traumatic Growth

Krystalyn Marquez, CSUSAN BERNARDINOFollow

Abstract
In recent years the concept Post-Traumatic Growth (PTG), psychological growth, has emerged in research in addition
to PTSD as a consequence of severe trauma. Those who experience PTG exhibit greater personal and spiritual
strength, a greater appreciation of life, and a reprioritizing of life’s priorities. Aside from “typical trauma”, LGBT
individuals experience a unique set of traumatic stressors. The current study examines personality traits and coping
mechanisms associated with the development of PTG and PTSD in the heterosexual and LGBT community. Three
hundred heterosexual and LGBT community members were given the Life Event Checklist modified to include LGBT
specific stressors, the Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory, the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5, the Big Five Inventory, the
Coping with Discrimination Scale, the Coping Self-Efficacy Scale and the Basic Personality Inventory. It was
hypothesized that positive personality traits would be associated with PTG among both heterosexual and LGBT
individuals. It was also hypothesized that negative traits would be correlated with PTSD in the heterosexual and
LGBT communities. Lastly, it was hypothesized that social support, coming out, self-acceptance, and hardiness
would be positively correlated with PTG in the LGBT community to a greater extent than in the heterosexual
community. The findings largely support these hypotheses. Implications of this study point to the importance of
assessing for individuals’ strengths in addition to dysfunction following the experience of trauma. Additionally the
findings suggest that members of the LGBT community may have unique strategies for coping with trauma and
LGBT-focused intervention should consider bolstering these specific strategies.

Recommended Citation
Marquez, Krystalyn (2019) "Personality Traits and Coping Mechanisms in the Development of Post- Traumatic
Growth," OSR Journal of Student Research: Vol. 5 , Article 131.
Available at: https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/osr/vol5/iss1/131
 Personality Traits, Perceived Stress, and Coping
Mechanisms of Emergency Department Nurses
Brittany KnippFollow

Start Date
18-8-2017 10:00 AM

End Date
18-8-2017 11:30 AM

Comments
Personality Traits, Perceived Stress, and Coping Mechanisms of Emergency Department Nurses

Student Name: Brittany Knipp

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Young-Me Lee and Dr. Elizabeth Florez

Background: Research has indicated that emergency departments are stressful environments. There is a tendency
for research studies to investigate causes of stress and ways of coping, but very little research, have considered the
personality traits of the nurses who thrive in this challenging environment, the work stress they perceive and the
coping strategies they use.

Objective: The purpose of this descriptive correlational study was to examine the relationships among personality
traits, perception of workplace stress and coping mechanisms among experienced US ED nurses.

Method: A sample of 50 emergency department nurses completed an online survey utilizing the Big Five Index to
measure personality traits, the Nurse Stress Index to measure perceived stressors and the Brief Cope questionnaire
to measure coping mechanisms. Pearson correlations, T-tests and ANOVA were used to analyze the data.

Results: The most common personality trait was conscientiousness. Nurses who scored high in conscientiousness
utilized positive coping mechanisms. Personality traits did not have a buffering effect on perceived stressors.

Conclusion: Further studies are needed with a larger sample size to accurately assess the relationships between
personality traits, perceived stressors and coping mechanisms of US ED nurses.

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