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Cherednychenko T., Vovk N. Determinants of posttraumatic growth of combat participants

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Tetiana Cherednychenko - Senior Lecturer at the Department of Psychology of Activity in Special Conditions, National University of Civil Protection of Ukraine, Cherkasy (Ukraine)

ORCID 0000-0001-5496-1083

 

Nelia Vovk - PhD in Pedagogy, Associate Professor at the Department of Psychology of Activity in Special Conditions, National University of Civil Protection of Ukraine, Cherkasy (Ukraine)

ORCID 0000-0001-6601-7030

 

 DOI - https://doi.org/10.52363/dcpp-2026.1.7

 

Keywords: posttraumatic growth, combat participants, psychological trauma, personal resources, social support, determinants of development.

 

The article provides a theoretical analysis of the problem of posttraumatic growth of combat participants and systematizes the main determinants of its development. The relevance of the study is обусловлена the increasing number of individuals who have experienced the impact of combat and psychotraumatic events under conditions of the full-scale war in Ukraine, as well as the need to reorient psychological science from studying only the negative consequences of trauma to investigating the potential of the individual for recovery and development after crisis experiences. The purpose of the article is to identify key factors that contribute to the formation of posttraumatic growth in combat participants. The essence of the functional-descriptive model of posttraumatic growth by R. Tedeschi and L. Calhoun is revealed, and five basic manifestations of posttraumatic growth are characterized: improvement of interpersonal relationships, discovery of new opportunities, personal strengthening, spiritual-existential changes, and appreciation of life. It has been established that the determinants of posttraumatic growth have a multilevel character and can be grouped into three categories.

Individual-psychological determinants include personality traits, optimism, self-efficacy, locus of control, cognitive flexibility, the ability to make meaning of traumatic experience, and constructive coping strategies. Socio-psychological factors include social support, cohesion,

social recognition, support from family and significant others, as well as spiritual and religious resources. Situational-demographic factors include age, gender, social status, intensity and duration of combat experience, as well as characteristics of traumatic circumstances. It is concluded that posttraumatic growth is the result of the interaction between internal personal resources and external conditions of the social environment. A перспективним direction for further research is defined as the empirical study of the specifics of determinants of posttraumatic growth in combat participants.

 

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Date of initial submission of the article to the journal: 20.04.2026

Date of acceptance of the article for publication after peer review: 18.05.2026

Date of publication of the article: 31.05.2026

 

Publisher National University of Civil Protection of Ukraine, 2026

This is an Open Access article under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode.en

 

How to cite: Cherednychenko T., Vovk N. Determinants of posttraumatic growth of combat participants. Disaster and Crisis Psychology Problems. 1(11). 2026. P. 86-96. https://doi.org/10.52363/dcpp-2026.1.7

 

Issue 1(11)-2026

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