Abstract:
Numerous researchers have demonstrated that deliberate rumination serves as the
foremost precursor to posttraumatic growth (PTG). However, understanding of the factors
responsible for facilitating deliberate rumination remains limited. The purpose of the present
study was to examine three factors proposed by the functional-descriptive model of PTG as
facilitators of deliberate rumination—emotional intelligence, management of intrusive
rumination, and goal disengagement—among the cancer survivor population. Following from the
functional-descriptive model and existing empirical research, it was hypothesized that the three
factors would be positively related to deliberate rumination, and that deliberate rumination would
partially mediate the associations between these factors and PTG. Two-hundred and twenty-one
cancer survivors were surveyed and data were analyzed using path analysis. Hypotheses were
partially supported, such that results suggested a positive link between emotional intelligence
and PTG and deliberate rumination and PTG, and a negative link between management of
intrusive rumination and deliberate rumination and goal disengagement and deliberate
rumination. Mediation was not supported. Implications for theory, research, and practice are
discussed.
