Resilience and Posttraumatic Growth of Breast Cancer Survivors

Although there is an abundance of information in the literature pertaining to breast cancerresiliency and posttraumatic growth, research on the impact of early-life experiences that eitherpromote or detract from psychological growth in survivorship is lacking. This study investigatedwhether resiliency and posttraumatic growth determined from some types of abusive experiencesduring childhood mediate further growth when confronted with subsequent traumaticexperiences in adulthood, specifically breast cancer treatment/survival. Data were collectedthrough participant self-report of information using a retrospective questionnaire on perceivedchildhood discipline and abuse, resiliency, and posttraumatic growth. Specifically, the Emotionaland Physical Abuse Questionnaire (EPAB) served as the abuse measure. The Predictive 6-FactorResilience Scale (PR6) was used to measure resilience, while the Posttraumatic GrowthInventory (PTGI) measured posttraumatic growth. Results revealed that mild and severephysical abuse as well as greater degrees of emotional abuse were significantly positivelyassociated withposttraumatic growth. Emotional abuse was associated with resilience specifically whensurvivors experience a sense of physical and emotional wellbeing, while physical abuse was notassociated with resilience even when considering wellbeing factors.