Factors Associated with Post-Traumatic Growth during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic was an unprecedented event that further stimulated the debate on the concept of trauma. To increase knowledge about the traumatic potential of the pandemic, the main objective of this study was to identify, through a systematic literature review, the main factors associated with the adaptive outcome of post-traumatic growth caused by COVID-19. Studies were selected from the PsychInfo, Embase, and PubMed databases, and 29 articles were included at the end of the screening process. The identified factors are of different natures, including personal variables such as personality traits, coping, and cognitive strategies used to face adversity, and interpersonal variables, one of the most important of which is the level of social support. In addition, several results confirmed a relationship between post-traumatic growth and post-traumatic stress symptoms, as well as indices related to psychological well-being. Finally, the results are discussed by comparing them with those already present in the literature, as well as with some of the main explanatory models of post-traumatic growth. In this regard, some of the factors identified, such as maladaptive coping, avoidance symptoms, optimism, and low-stress tolerance, suggest the possibility that the process of post-traumatic growth may also be characterized by an illusory dimension.

Keywords: COVID-19; post-traumatic growth; protective factors; systematic literature review; trauma.