Secondary Traumatic Stress and Post-Traumatic Growth: The Moderating Effects of Cognitive Flexibility and Compassion Satisfaction on School Personnel

Many students enrolled in the K-12 school system in the United States have experienced at least one traumatic event. School personnel working with students who have experienced trauma are at risk of developing secondary traumatic stress (STS), with symptoms mirroring those of post-traumatic stress disorder. Among educators, STS has been correlated with negative mental health outcomes and intent to leave the profession, further exacerbating educator turnover and shortages across the country. However, some individuals experience positive life changes following indirect trauma exposure, known as post-traumatic growth (PTG). The nature of the relationship between STS and PTG is inconsistent in the literature, making it important to identify variables that could help promote growth in the presence of traumatic stress. Two such variables are cognitive flexibility (CF) and compassion satisfaction (CS), which are often touted as protective factors against negative mental health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine whether cognitive flexibility (CF) and compassion satisfaction (CS) can help explain the relationship between symptoms of secondary traumatic stress (STS) and post-traumatic growth (PTG). The first research question asked: How are STS and PTG related? Results from a linear regression found that symptoms of STS did not significantly predict levels of PTG. The second research question asked: How is STS related to CF and CS? Results from bivariate Pearson Correlations found that symptoms of STS were significantly, negatively correlated with both CF and CS. Lastly, the third research questions asked: Do CF and CS moderate the relationship between STS and PTG? Results from a moderation analysis found that CF and CS did not moderate the relationship between STS and PTG. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.