The Longitudinal Course of Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms and Posttraumatic Growth Among College Students During the Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19) Pandemic: Cross-Lagged Panel Network Analyses

Background and Objective: There is a gap in the literature concerning the relationship between complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) and posttraumatic growth (PTG). The recent network analysis provided opportunities to investigate the associations between CPTSD and PTG on a more fine-grained level. This longitudinal study aimed to model cross-lagged network of components of CPTSD and PTG with longitudinal data to unveil the direction of their relationships among college students exposed to the COVID-19 pandemic.Method: We utilized self-report measures to evaluate the presence of CPTSD and PTG. We conducted a baseline assessment on 1361 college students who experienced home isolation due to school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic from mid-to-late May 2020 (Time 1, T1). Subsequently, we performed follow-up assessments at 3-month (Time 2, T2) and 6-month (Time 3, T3) intervals.Results: Two components of CPTSD, PTSD and disturbances in self-organization (DSO) shared vastly different relationships with PTG. In T1→T2 network, Re-experiencing and Sense of current threat positively predicted components of PTG, Avoidance exhibited negative predictive value on PTG. These predictive relationships were weakened in T2→T3 network. However, Negative self-concept and Affective dysregulation in DSO negatively predicted multiple dimensions of PTG in both networks. Conclusions: The two symptom clusters in CPTSD, namely DSO and PTSD, exhibit interrelated yet distinct characteristics, with their respective connections to PTG displaying significant dissimilarity. These results suggested that interventions could benefit from mitigating DSO symptoms and incorporating PTSD symptoms into positive change.