Perceived social support, emotional self-disclosure, and posttraumatic growth in children following a typhoon: a three-wave cross-lagged study

Objective: We aimed to elucidate the temporal relationship between perceived social support, emotional self-disclosure and posttraumatic growth (PTG) in children.Method: The super typhoon Lekima occurred on August 10, 2019, in China. Three waves of self-report questionnaires were administered to chi...

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Main Authors: Zijian He, Yifan Li, Yingying Ye, Xiao Zhou
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2025-12-01
Series:European Journal of Psychotraumatology
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Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/20008066.2025.2478793
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author Zijian He
Yifan Li
Yingying Ye
Xiao Zhou
author_facet Zijian He
Yifan Li
Yingying Ye
Xiao Zhou
author_sort Zijian He
collection DOAJ
description Objective: We aimed to elucidate the temporal relationship between perceived social support, emotional self-disclosure and posttraumatic growth (PTG) in children.Method: The super typhoon Lekima occurred on August 10, 2019, in China. Three waves of self-report questionnaires were administered to children at 3 months (T1, N = 1596), 15 months (T2, N = 1072), and 27 months (T3, N = 483) following the typhoon. The main analysis was based on data from 351 children who completed all three waves of assessment. We constructed cross-lagged panel models to examine temporal associations between perceived social support, emotional self-disclosure, and posttraumatic growth.Results: Controlling for trauma exposure, age, gender, monthly income of family and parental marital status, results revealed that perceived social support at T1 and T2 was longitudinally related to emotional self-disclosure and PTG at T2 and T3. Emotional self-disclosure at T1 and T2 positively connected with perceived social support and PTG at T2 and T3. However, PTG did not relate to subsequent perceived social support. Mediation analyses revealed that perceived social support at T1 was positively connected with PTG at T3 through emotional self-disclosure at T2, and that emotional self-disclosure at T1 was positively connected with PTG at T3 through perceived social support at T2.Conclusions: These results demonstrated that perceived social support and emotional self-disclosure were mutually reinforcing, and both could facilitate PTG among children. Post-disaster psychological interventions could work to enrich social support resources and encourage children’s emotional self-disclosure.
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spelling doaj-art-3e058ca110a24ce9b9a12a9ff179d4fc2025-08-20T03:04:21ZengTaylor & Francis GroupEuropean Journal of Psychotraumatology2000-80662025-12-0116110.1080/20008066.2025.2478793Perceived social support, emotional self-disclosure, and posttraumatic growth in children following a typhoon: a three-wave cross-lagged studyZijian He0Yifan Li1Yingying Ye2Xiao Zhou3Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of ChinaDepartment of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of ChinaDepartment of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of ChinaDepartment of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of ChinaObjective: We aimed to elucidate the temporal relationship between perceived social support, emotional self-disclosure and posttraumatic growth (PTG) in children.Method: The super typhoon Lekima occurred on August 10, 2019, in China. Three waves of self-report questionnaires were administered to children at 3 months (T1, N = 1596), 15 months (T2, N = 1072), and 27 months (T3, N = 483) following the typhoon. The main analysis was based on data from 351 children who completed all three waves of assessment. We constructed cross-lagged panel models to examine temporal associations between perceived social support, emotional self-disclosure, and posttraumatic growth.Results: Controlling for trauma exposure, age, gender, monthly income of family and parental marital status, results revealed that perceived social support at T1 and T2 was longitudinally related to emotional self-disclosure and PTG at T2 and T3. Emotional self-disclosure at T1 and T2 positively connected with perceived social support and PTG at T2 and T3. However, PTG did not relate to subsequent perceived social support. Mediation analyses revealed that perceived social support at T1 was positively connected with PTG at T3 through emotional self-disclosure at T2, and that emotional self-disclosure at T1 was positively connected with PTG at T3 through perceived social support at T2.Conclusions: These results demonstrated that perceived social support and emotional self-disclosure were mutually reinforcing, and both could facilitate PTG among children. Post-disaster psychological interventions could work to enrich social support resources and encourage children’s emotional self-disclosure.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/20008066.2025.2478793Perceived social supportemotional self-disclosurePTGchildrencross-lagged panel modelApoyo social percibido
spellingShingle Zijian He
Yifan Li
Yingying Ye
Xiao Zhou
Perceived social support, emotional self-disclosure, and posttraumatic growth in children following a typhoon: a three-wave cross-lagged study
European Journal of Psychotraumatology
Perceived social support
emotional self-disclosure
PTG
children
cross-lagged panel model
Apoyo social percibido
title Perceived social support, emotional self-disclosure, and posttraumatic growth in children following a typhoon: a three-wave cross-lagged study
title_full Perceived social support, emotional self-disclosure, and posttraumatic growth in children following a typhoon: a three-wave cross-lagged study
title_fullStr Perceived social support, emotional self-disclosure, and posttraumatic growth in children following a typhoon: a three-wave cross-lagged study
title_full_unstemmed Perceived social support, emotional self-disclosure, and posttraumatic growth in children following a typhoon: a three-wave cross-lagged study
title_short Perceived social support, emotional self-disclosure, and posttraumatic growth in children following a typhoon: a three-wave cross-lagged study
title_sort perceived social support emotional self disclosure and posttraumatic growth in children following a typhoon a three wave cross lagged study
topic Perceived social support
emotional self-disclosure
PTG
children
cross-lagged panel model
Apoyo social percibido
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/20008066.2025.2478793
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AT yingyingye perceivedsocialsupportemotionalselfdisclosureandposttraumaticgrowthinchildrenfollowingatyphoonathreewavecrosslaggedstudy
AT xiaozhou perceivedsocialsupportemotionalselfdisclosureandposttraumaticgrowthinchildrenfollowingatyphoonathreewavecrosslaggedstudy