Measurement of posttraumatic growth in young people: a review

Abstract

The potential of the positive psychology perspective to change the focus of clinical research and practice has become increasingly recognized. A variety of new psychometric instruments informed by positive psychology are now available to mental health clinicians, providing them with tools to assess change across the spectrum of human functioning. One area of research and practice in which this is evident is in posttrauma work, where it is becoming more common to assess posttraumatic growth alongside posttraumatic stress. The majority of work on posttraumatic growth has been with adults, but the last few years have also seen a new body of research with children and adolescents. The aim is to review literature relating to the measurement of growth. It is concluded that several measures with acceptable psychometric properties now exist for the assessment of posttraumatic growth in children and adolescents.