An item-level analysis of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory: Relationships with an examination of core beliefs and deliberate rumination

• The within-scale differences in the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory are assessed.
• An item-level analysis of the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory was conducted.
• Eighteen of 21 items in the inventory were explained by core beliefs' examination.
• Five of 21 items were also explained by deliberate rumination.

Posttraumatic growth (PTG), positive change that may occur as a result of psychological struggle with a traumatic event, has been widely reported across cultures. However, there is some disagreement on how the self-reported PTG, measured by the PTG Inventory (PTGI), reflects the construct that is described in PTG theory. The current study was designed to conduct an item-level analysis of the PTGI to identify the type of growth that is explained by an examination of one's core beliefs and deliberate rumination — two major precursors for PTG, according to a PTG theoretical model. A multivariate multiple regression analysis predicting each of the PTGI items was conducted with young adults who experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake (N = 316). Results indicated that five out of 21 items were explained by both core beliefs' examination and deliberate rumination and 13 were explained by only core beliefs' examination. Three items were not accounted for by either core beliefs' examination or deliberate rumination. These findings indicate that most types of PTG assessed by the PTGI are likely to occur when core beliefs are challenged; however, some types of PTG may occur without cognitive effort. Future research should consider the variation within the PTGI.