Validation of the Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory-Short-Form (PTGI-SF) in Diverse Trauma-Exposed Samples

Abstract

Objectives

Although the Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory-Short Form (PTGI-SF) has been validated in several languages, it has not yet been validated in Greek. This study aimed to validate the Greek PTGI-SF in a large community sample and assess its comparability with the original PTGI, as well as its applicability in small, homogeneous trauma-exposed groups.

Methods

The validation process involved 2,138 Greek residents who experienced the COVID-19 lockdown.

Results

The PTGI-SF demonstrated a robust five-factor structure, gender invariance, and strong psychometric properties. It was further tested in four small samples exposed to specific traumatic events (fire/explosion, physical assault, sexual assault, and life-threatening illness/injury).

Conclusions

Results confirmed that the Greek PTGI-SF is a reliable and valid multidimensional tool, comparable to the full version. It showed configural and metric gender invariance and proved suitable for both large and small samples. This validated version supports the assessment of post-traumatic growth in Greek-speaking populations worldwide and facilitates targeted psychological interventions.

Keywords

Post-traumatic growth inventory psychometric properties confirmatory factor analysis multigroup confirmatory factor analyses (MGCFA)reliability validity Heterotrait–Monotrait ratio of correlation

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