Measuring Personal Growth Attributed to a Semester of College Life Using the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory

In this descriptive exploratory study, the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI; Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996) was used to measure levels of personal growth attributed by college students (N = 117) to a semester of university life in retrospective self-reports. Results reflect attributions of substantial total growth in the range reported in the posttraumatic studies and attributions of substantial growth to a variety of specific experiences. The results suggest that personal growth as defined by the PTGI is not necessarily adversarial and that personal growth can be intentionally facilitated by educational activities. (Contains 2 tables.)