Identifier
etd-07202011-173312
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Psychology
Document Type
Dissertation
Abstract
Although many studies have detailed the maladies imposed by Hurricane Katrina, little work has examined potential benefits gleaned in the wake of the storm. Posttraumatic growth, a construct receiving increased attention in the literature, describes personal betterment or development following a traumatic event in areas such as perceived changes in self, a changed sense of relations with others, and a changed philosophy of life. Researchers have demonstrated a relation between posttraumatic growth and varying factors, including religious coping. The current study established a relation between religious coping and posttraumatic growth in a sample of hurricane-exposed women in Southeastern Louisiana and attempted to identify mediators of that relation. Results indicated that social support was not related to religious coping or posttraumatic growth and therefore did not mediate the relation between the two. However, in the final model, cognitive processing fully mediated the relation between religious coping and posttraumatic growth, such that religious coping would have no effect on posttraumatic growth were it not for its relation to cognitive processing.
Date
2011
Document Availability at the Time of Submission
Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.
Recommended Citation
Bosson, Julia Vigna, "Growth after the storm: cognitive processing and social support as mediators of the relation between religious coping and posttraumatic growth in hurricane-affected women" (2011). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 2148.
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/2148
Committee Chair
Kelley, Mary Lou
DOI
10.31390/gradschool_dissertations.2148