The Compelling Dynamics of "Will to Exist, Live, and Survive" on Effecting Posttraumatic Growth Upon Exposure to Adversities: Is It Mediated, in Part, by Emotional Regulation, Resilience, and Spirituality?

The goal of the current study is to empirically examine the role of a person's will to exist, live, and survive (WTELS) in growth upon exposure to cumulative stressors and traumas (CST) and unpack its intricate relationships with posttraumatic growth (PTG) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We used a combined five data sets that included participants from Egypt, Turkey, Kuwait, Syria, and the United Kingdom (N = 1,566). We used measures of WTELS, resilience, emotion regulation, identity salience, PTG, interfaith spirituality, PTSD, and poor health. We used path analysis to test a model of the effects of WTELS and CST on PTG and PTSD as mediated by resilience, interfaith spirituality, emotion regulation (reappraisal), and identity salience. Further, we used PROCESS macro to test the direct and indirect effects of WTELS through the mediators. Additionally, we used curve estimation regression to explore the linear and nonlinear relationships among the predictor variables: WTELS, CST, and the outcome variables of PTG and PTSD. WTELS was found to have moderate direct positive effects on PTG, reappraisal, and resilience. It had strong direct and significant indirect negative effects on PTSD. The direct effects of WTELS on PTG were more than twice its indirect effects. Emotion regulation (reappraisal) had the highest effect size as a mediator responsible for its indirect effects on PTG, followed by the resilience and interfaith spirituality. Although WTELS was associated with PTG more linearly, CST and PTG, CST and PTSD, and PTSD and PTG were associated more nonlinearly. We discussed the implications of these results for intervention and prevention.