Post-traumatic growth as a trigger for social identification: a longitudinal study on liver transplant patients

Coherently with the recent literature on social identification and health (Haslam et al., 2009), the aim of the present study was to verify the nature of the relationship between the post-traumatic growth and the social identification. A longitudinal study was conducted with a group of 170 liver transplant patients. Data were collected by means of a written questionnaire, at two time points (T1 and T29 that were 24 months apart. The questionnaire was composed by the Post-traumatic Growth Inventory (Tedeschi, Calhoun, 2004), and by the Family In-group identification scale (Doosje, Ellemers, and Spears, 1995).We tested a cross-lagged model including PTG T1 and T2, and family identification T1 and T2, using structural equation modelling. This revealed an excellent fit of the model: χ2 (1) = .91, ns; CFI = 1.00; RMSEA = .00, and confirmed that PTG exerted a significant effect on family identification over time but not vice-versa.