Abstract
M.A. (Counselling Psychology)
A growing body of literature reveals that, in the aftermath of trauma, meaningful lessons, experiencing a sense of intensified personal strength, and an enhanced appreciation for life, may ensue. This phenomenon is described as posttraumatic growth (PTG). With the increased interest in PTG, there is an increased need for psychometrically sound PTG measures. The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) is the most commonly used measure developed to capture the construct of PTG. Although originally developed and validated for the American population, the PTGI has been commonly used to measure PTG in a number of other countries, including South Africa. Several studies have investigated the psychometric properties of the PTGI and its factor structure, and revealed ambiguous results. Thus, the aim of the present study was to further examine the psychometric properties of the PTGI within a diverse context by specifically evaluating its internal consistency, reliability, and construct validity, using a group of South African emerging adults exposed to trauma (N = 1303). Results revealed moderate to high internal consistency for all items, with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranging between .78 and .89. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that a five-factor higher-order model provided the best reasonable fit. Although, because the fit indices for all models were analogous, the evidence for this model was not compelling. While further validation studies may be beneficial, the conclusion was reached that there is reasonable support for the use of the PTGI within the multicultural South African context.