Heterogeneity in temporal self-appraisals following exposure to potentially traumatic life events: A latent profile analysis

•Individuals show distinct patterns of temporal self-appraisal following trauma.•Three profiles of appraisal emerged: optimistic, chump to champ, and pessimistic.•Lower levels of trauma and depression predicted optimistic profile membership.•Optimistic and chump to champ profiles were associated with more event centrality. People tend to believe that they continuously improve over time. In fact, Temporal Self-Appraisal Theory (“Chump to Champ”) has found that people are motivated to derogate their past selves in favor of their present selves. Studies on temporal self-appraisals following trauma is less clear, with some studies showing perceived improvement whereas other studies show appraisals of decline. Utilizing Latent Profile Analysis (LPA), we tested for discrete patterns of temporal self-appraisals in undergraduate college students (N = 740) following trauma exposure. We then explored various trauma-related characteristics as predictors of profile membership. LPA revealed three distinct profiles of appraisal styles (Profile 1: optimistic, Profile 2: chump to champ, Profile 3: pessimistic). The optimistic profile was associated with lower levels of PTSD and depression symptoms, whereas the optimistic and chump to champ profiles were associated with greater trauma centrality. Findings are limited in that this study utilized cross-sectional data from a sample of predominantly undergraduate females, thus conclusions regarding temporal relations among study constructs cannot be made and findings may not generalize to other populations. Temporal self-appraisals following trauma exposure may reflect prototypical patterns in which individual appraise adaptation to potentially traumatic stress and may confer risk for psychopathology. Such findings have implications for approaches to intervention with clinical and non-clinical populations following trauma exposure.