Meaning and spirituality in the aftermath of traumatic events

The purpose of the present study was to examine whether spirituality and higher level meaning together provide improved predictions of recovery, distress and functioning following traumatic events, over that provided using either construct alone. Previous studies have examined either meaning or spirituality/religious motivation and their relations to trauma recovery and related distress, but to date they have not been analyzed together. Multiple measures of both spirituality and meaning were used, to attempt to specify distinct positive and negative elements of both, and their relationships with trauma recovery. Results indicate that meaning and spirituality provide incremental improvements in the prediction of outcome variables. In addition, positive and negative elements of these constructs appear to be particularly relevant to an understanding of factors that contribute to the successful resolution of traumatic events.