The association between stress exposure, traumatic stress and post-traumatic growth among Hong Kong Young adults under the “double-hit” of social unrest and COVID-19

Abstract

This study investigated the probable traumatic stress (PTS), post-traumatic growth (PTG), and perceived impacts among Hong Kong young adults aged between 18 and 30 in September 2021, which is about 1.5 years after the Anti-ELAB social movement and COVID-19 pandemic have put everything into a stop. Among 251 participants, 46.8% scored above 32 out of 88 on the Impact of Events Scale-Revised, which indicated clinical levels of PTS, and 6.4% scored above 4 out of 5 on the Post Traumatic Growth Inventory, which displayed significant post-traumatic growth. Perceived impacts from the social movement (Means (SD) = 3.52 (1.91)) and COVID-19 (Means (SD) = 4.38 (1.82)) were moderate. Four groups were divided based on the cut-off scores: (1) Low PTS and Low PTG (50.6%); (2) High PTS and Low PTG (39.8%); (3) Low PTS and High PTG (2.4%); (4) High PTS and High PTG (4.0%). Results of one-way ANOVA showed that there were significant difference between the perceive level of PTS and PTG with the perceived impacts of social unrest (F(3, 242) = 5.66, p = .001) and COVID-19 (F(3, 242) = 4.84, p < .01). Persons in group 4 reported more perceived impacts in social unrest than group 1 and 2. Meanwhile, group 2 also reported a higher level of perceived impacts in COVID-19 than group 1.