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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Public Mental Health
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1538275
Associations of perceived social support, resilience and posttraumatic growth among young and middle-aged patients with first-episode psychosis
Provisionally accepted- 1 The University of Sydney, Camperdown, Australia
- 2 Shandong Mental Health Center, Shandong University, 49 Wenhua East Road, Jinan, China
Background: The prevalence of mental disorders among young and middle-aged populations has demonstrated a significant upward trend, with first-episode psychosis (FEP) frequently associated with psychological distress and functional impairments during during initial onset. While persons affected by FEP frequently report psychological distress and reduced quality of life during early illness stages, they may also experience post-traumatic growth (PTG), which fosters positive changes that facilitate their recovery. Yet there is limited attention on PTG in young and middle-aged patients with FEP. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the level of PTG and identify significant correlates and mediators of PTG among young and middle-aged patients with FEP.Methods: From January 2021 to December 2023, two hundred eight patients with first-episode psychosis were enrolled from a tertiary hospital in Shandong Province, China, through convenience sampling. The Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS), Posttraumatic Growth Inventory-Short Form (PTGI-SF), and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC10) were administered. Hierarchical linear regression modeling was performed to examine the associations between perceived social support and PTG and the mediating effect of resilience.Results: The PTG score was 31.22 ± 6.59, and resilience and PSS could positively predict the variance in PTG. Resilience partially mediated the relationship between PSS and PTG, and the value of the mediating effect was 22.8%.Conclusions: Young and middle-aged patients with FEP have a moderate level of PTG. Resilience partially mediates the relationship between PSS and PTG. Therefore, interventions focusing on promoting PSS and resilience should be developed to encourage PTG in young and middle-aged patients with FEP.
Keywords: resilience, perceived social support, posttraumatic growth, First-episode psychosis, Mediation
Received: 05 Dec 2024; Accepted: 03 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhao, Zhao, Teng and Zou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Guiyuan Zou, Shandong Mental Health Center, Shandong University, 49 Wenhua East Road, Jinan, China
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