Post-Traumatic Growth and Quality of Life among World Trade Center Health Registry Enrollees 16 Years after 9/11

Howard E. Alper (), Leen Feliciano, Lucie Millien, Cristina Pollari and Sean Locke
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Howard E. Alper: World Trade Center Health Registry, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Division of Epidemiology, New York, NY 11101, USA
Leen Feliciano: Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, The City University of New York, New York, NY 10027, USA
Lucie Millien: World Trade Center Health Registry, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Division of Epidemiology, New York, NY 11101, USA
Cristina Pollari: World Trade Center Health Registry, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Division of Epidemiology, New York, NY 11101, USA
Sean Locke: World Trade Center Health Registry, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Division of Epidemiology, New York, NY 11101, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 15, 1-11

Abstract: A recent study of World Trade Center Health Registry enrollees found that about one-third experienced post-traumatic growth (PTG) in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and that PTG was associated with social support and social integration. However, the implications of PTG for the enrollees’ overall quality of life are unknown. The present study investigated the prevalence of PTG and its association with the SF-12 physical and mental functioning quality of life scales in a sample of 4760 enrollees from the Registry’s Health and Quality of Life Study (HQoL) who completed the first four surveys, were older than 18 on 9/11, reported English as their primary spoken language, and provided consistent self-report of 9/11 physical injury at the Registry’s baseline and HQoL surveys. We employed multivariable linear regression to evaluate the association between PTG and the SF-12 physical and mental scales, controlling for sociodemographic and other variables. We found that 31% of the sample enrollees experienced PTG and that PTG exhibited a clinically and statistically significant association with the SF-12 mental scale but not the physical scale (physical: b = 0.15 (−0.45, 0.75), mental: b = 3.61 (2.85, 4.37)). Those who were physically injured during 9/11 showed larger improvements in mental functioning than those who were not. PTG has implications for the overall mental quality of life that should be further investigated.

Keywords: 9/11; post-traumatic growth; World Trade Center; quality of life; SF-12; physical function; mental function (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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