Personal Growth Initiative as a parsimonious and modifiable predictor of treatment outcome in a clinical sample of university students

Depression is one of the most prevalent diseases around the world and is a significant cause of impairment in people’s lives. Emerging adults, and specifically university students are at a significant risk of developing mental illnesses including depression and anxiety. Moreover, research shows that both the number and severity of depressive symptoms in this population is on the rise. Current treatments of depression have been shown to be only partially effective, and rates of relapse are high. Positive psychology interventions and constructs that promote well-being have shown promising results in accounting for the shortcomings of the traditional treatment modalities which solely focus on targeting psychological symptoms. This study proposed that the positive psychology construct of Personal Growth Initiative (PGI) could be a protective factor against symptoms of depression and anxiety in university students dealing with mental illnesses. The sample consisted of 145 university students aged 18 to 25, who were diagnosed with depressive disorders, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) or social anxiety disorder (SAD) and received therapy at a student counseling center. Supporting earlier findings in clinical samples, a paired sample t-test showed that PGI skills improved significantly from admission to termination. Bivariate correlations showed that among students with depressive disorders and SAD, those with more developed PGI skills sought therapy when their symptoms were lower. No relationship was found between admission-level PGI skills and generalized anxiety (GA) symptoms. Hierarchical multiple regression models showed that more developed PGI skills predicted lower depression and higher GA at termination, when adjusting for admission-level severity of symptoms. Additionally, results showed that admission-level PGI skills and change in PGI skills throughout therapy predicted depression and GA at termination when adjusting for admission-level symptom severity. However, neither PGI skills at admission nor change in PGI skills as a result of therapy explained unique variance above and beyond what was explained by initial symptoms of social anxiety. Finally, admission-level PGI skills predicted depressive symptoms at termination for students with comorbid depressive and anxiety disorders. Overall, findings from this study provide further evidence that more developed PGI skills improve therapy outcome. Given that this was the first study to explore the link between PGI and anxiety disorders in a clinical sample and small sample sizes, results should be replicated in other clinical samples.

Embargo status: Restricted until 01/2024. To request the author grant access, click on the PDF link to the left.