IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v11y2024i1d10.1057_s41599-024-02967-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Chinese college students’ post-traumatic growth during the COVID-19: a grounded theory study

Author

Listed:
  • Yining Ma

    (College of Education)

  • Hui Wang

    (Zhejiang University of Technology)

  • Hao Chai

    (College of Education)

  • Jian Zhu

    (Beijing Normal University)

  • Xinyi Lin

    (South China Normal University)

  • Hui Huang

    (South China Normal University)

  • Zaoyi Sun

    (College of Education)

Abstract

During the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, both high levels of post-traumatic stress and positive personal changes, a phenomenon known as post-traumatic growth (PTG), were experienced by some people. What remains unknown are the constructs and facilitators of PTG during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this study uses a grounded theory methodology to elucidate the behavioral and cognitional dimensions of PTG in Chinese college students. Twenty-four individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with Chinese college students who had positive experiences during the epidemic. Transcripts were analyzed using initial and focused coding to identify themes that explained the PTG model. The coding results revealed that the Chinese college students’ PTG consisted of four core themes: reflections on the country and society, self-awareness changes, increased social behavior, and lifestyle modifications. Additionally, participants described external factors such as information input and patriotism, which were identified as influencing their PTG during the pandemic. Findings from this study extend prior theory and research by conceptualizing a novel theoretical model for PTG among college students during the pandemic and provide important implications for research and practice.

Suggested Citation

  • Yining Ma & Hui Wang & Hao Chai & Jian Zhu & Xinyi Lin & Hui Huang & Zaoyi Sun, 2024. "Chinese college students’ post-traumatic growth during the COVID-19: a grounded theory study," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:11:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-024-02967-w
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-024-02967-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-024-02967-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-024-02967-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jinhua Dou & Chang Liu & Ruoyu Xiong & Hongguang Zhou & Guohua Lu & Liping Jia, 2022. "Empathy and Post-Traumatic Growth among Chinese Community Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Roles of Self-Disclosure and Social Support," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-12, November.
    2. Yanmengqian Zhou & Erina L. MacGeorge & Jessica Gall Myrick, 2020. "Mental Health and Its Predictors during the Early Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic Experience in the United States," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-19, August.
    3. Alessandro Germani & Livia Buratta & Elisa Delvecchio & Claudia Mazzeschi, 2020. "Emerging Adults and COVID-19: The Role of Individualism-Collectivism on Perceived Risks and Psychological Maladjustment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-15, May.
    4. Daniel Kahneman, 2003. "Maps of Bounded Rationality: Psychology for Behavioral Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(5), pages 1449-1475, December.
    5. Carmelo Vazquez & Carmen Valiente & Felipe E. García & Alba Contreras & Vanesa Peinado & Almudena Trucharte & Richard P. Bentall, 2021. "Post-Traumatic Growth and Stress-Related Responses During the COVID-19 Pandemic in a National Representative Sample: The Role of Positive Core Beliefs About the World and Others," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(7), pages 2915-2935, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jinmei Tu & Hongyu Fu, 2024. "The path to happiness for music students: music empathy and music engagement as potential sources of subjective well-being," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Winter, Peter, 2007. "Managerial Risk Accounting and Control – A German perspective," MPRA Paper 8185, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. J. Silvestre, & T. Araújo & M. St. Aubyn, 2016. "Economic growth and individual satisfaction in an agent-based economy," Working Papers Department of Economics 2016/19, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Universidade de Lisboa.
    3. Luigi Guiso, 2015. "A Test of Narrow Framing and its Origin," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 1(1), pages 61-100, March.
    4. Lex Borghans & Angela Lee Duckworth & James J. Heckman & Bas ter Weel, 2008. "The Economics and Psychology of Personality Traits," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(4).
    5. B Kelsey Jack, "undated". "Market Inefficiencies and the Adoption of Agricultural Technologies in Developing Countries," CID Working Papers 50, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    6. Kelly, Scott & Shipworth, Michelle & Shipworth, David & Gentry, Michael & Wright, Andrew & Pollitt, Michael & Crawford-Brown, Doug & Lomas, Kevin, 2013. "Predicting the diversity of internal temperatures from the English residential sector using panel methods," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 601-621.
    7. Becker, Gary S. & Rubinstein, Yona, 2011. "Fear and the response to terrorism: an economic analysis," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121740, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Coleman, S., 2010. "Russian Election Reform and the Effect of Social Conformity on Voting and the Party System: 2007 and 2008," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, issue 5, pages 73-90.
    9. Das, Willy & Das, Satyasiba, 2018. "Role of Heuristic Principles On Crowd-Funder's Investment Decision Making," 6th International OFEL Conference on Governance, Management and Entrepreneurship. New Business Models and Institutional Entrepreneurs: Leading Disruptive Change (Dubrovnik, 2018), in: 6th International OFEL Conference on Governance, Management and Entrepreneurship. New Business Models and Institutional Entrepreneurs: Leading Disrupt, pages 443-452, Governance Research and Development Centre (CIRU), Zagreb.
    10. Hernan Mondani & Petter Holme & Fredrik Liljeros, 2014. "Fat-Tailed Fluctuations in the Size of Organizations: The Role of Social Influence," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(7), pages 1-9, July.
    11. Mao, Luke Lunhua & Huang, Haiyan, 2016. "Social impact of Formula One Chinese Grand Prix: A comparison of local residents’ perceptions based on the intrinsic dimension," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 306-318.
    12. Randall Holcombe, 2005. "Government growth in the twenty-first century," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 124(1), pages 95-114, July.
    13. Shastitko, Andrey & Golovanova, Svetlana, 2016. "Meeting blindly… Is Austrian economics useful for dynamic capabilities theory?," Russian Journal of Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 86-110.
    14. Steven Andrew Culpepper & James Joseph Balamuta, 2017. "A Hierarchical Model for Accuracy and Choice on Standardized Tests," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 82(3), pages 820-845, September.
    15. Mark Schneider & Mikhael Shor, 2016. "The Common Ratio Effect in Choice, Pricing, and Happiness Tasks," Working papers 2016-29, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    16. Spagano, Salvatore, 2021. "Generalized Darwinism: An Auxiliary Hypothesis," MPRA Paper 108829, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Colombier, Carsten, 2011. "Konjunktur und Wachstum [Business cycles fluctuations and long-term growth]," MPRA Paper 104739, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Robin Maximilian Stetzka & Stefan Winter, 2023. "How rational is gambling?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(4), pages 1432-1488, September.
    19. Strittmatter, Anthony & Sunde, Uwe & Zegners, Dainis, 2022. "Speed, Quality, and the Optimal Timing of Complex Decisions: Field Evidence," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 317, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    20. Michaël Lainé, 2014. "Vers une alternative au paradigme de la rationalité ? Victoires et déboires du programme spinoziste en économie," Post-Print hal-01335618, HAL.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:11:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-024-02967-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.