Use of the revised Posttraumatic Growth Inventory for Children

Posttraumatic growth (PTG; positive change resulting from the struggle with trauma) was examined among children impacted by Hurricane Katrina. The revised Posttraumatic Growth Inventory for Children (PTGI‐C‐R) assessed PTG at two time points, 12 (T1) and 22 months (T2) posthurricane. The PTGI‐C‐R demonstrated good reliability. Analyses focused on trauma‐related variables in predicting PTG. Child‐reported subjective responses to the hurricane and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) correlated with PTG at T1; however, in the regression, only PTSS significantly explained variance in PTG. At follow‐up, T1 PTG was the only significant predictor of PTG. Findings suggest that the PTGI‐C‐R may assist efforts to understand children's responses posttrauma.