Traumatic stress and post-traumatic growth in individuals who have had Covid-19: The mediating effect of resilience and moderating effect of psychological flexibility
Open accessAbstract
The Covid-19 pandemic has had a global impact and has negatively affected the mental health of individuals. It is known that depression, anxiety and traumatic stress levels are high in individuals who have experienced Covid-19. In light of this, an increase in Post-Traumatic Growth (PTB) levels is expected. This study examines the role of resilience and psychological flexibility in the relationship between traumatic stress levels experienced in Covid-19 and PTG levels. A total of 845 (64.18% males, ages ranged from 19 and 73, with an average of 36.80 ± 8.43) adults from Türkiye participated in the online survey. Impact of Event Scale-Revised, The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, The Psychological Resilience Scale, and Psychological Flexibility Scale were used as measurement tools. According to the research findings, a partial mediator role of resilience has emerged in the relationship between individuals’ traumatic stress levels and PTG levels. Additionally, the regulatory function of psychological flexibility was determined in the relationship between traumatic stress levels and PTG levels. Accordingly, the link between Covid-19-related stress and PTG becomes stronger as the individual’s psychological flexibility increases. Traumatic stress has a more positive effect on PTG in individuals who exhibit high psychological flexibility. Based on these results, it can be confirmed that resilience and psychological flexibility are crucial factors to maintain the spiritual well-being of individuals during the Covid-19 pandemic, a worldwide crisis. Therefore, they need to be considered in the field of preventive mental health.
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Acceptance and Commitment Therapy has been shown to promote value-based behaviors by reducing experiential avoidance.
“ACT has been shown to promote value-based behaviors by reducing experiential avoidance16,91.”
From Post-traumatic growth, psychological inflexibility, and the mediating role of intolerance of uncertainty in adolescents affected by the Kahramanmaraş earthquake (2025) · cites this paper as [16]
The Discussion’s Implications section describes ACT as focusing on psychological flexibility through mindfulness and value-based actions. It does not say that ACT has been shown to promote those behaviors by reducing experiential avoidance; the cited study did not test that mechanism. No page numbers are available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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- Authors
- Türk, F.
- Affiliations
- Yıldız Technical University (TR)
- Corresponding author
- Türk, Fulya
- ORCID
- Türk, Fulya
- Venue
- PLOS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2024-12-30
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- e0310495
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC11684618
- OpenAlex
- W4405909806
- Cited by
- 12
- References
- 62
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 5
- FWCI
- 5.98
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Yildiz Technical University - AVESIS (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Resilience and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Keywords
- traumatic stress, posttraumatic growth, COVID-19 pandemic, resilience, psychological flexibility, mediating effect, moderating effect, spiritual well-being, mental health, mental health prevention
- MeSH terms
- Posttraumatic Growth, Psychological, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Adaptation, Psychological, Adult, Aged, Anxiety, Depression, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Middle Aged, Surveys and Questionnaires, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Resilience, Psychological, Young Adult, Pandemics
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