The influences of social support and emotion regulation strategies on posttraumatic growth of burn survivors: A cross‐sectional study in Linyi, China

Abstract This cross‐sectional study aimed to test the influences of social support and emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expression suppression) on burn survivors' posttraumatic growth. A convenience sampling method was adopted to recruit 130 burn survivors from the department of burns and plastic surgery of a public hospital in Linyi, China. Data were collected using self‐reported questionnaires on social support, emotion regulation strategies, and posttraumatic growth. Structural equation modeling was performed to explore the associations among social support, emotion regulation strategies, and posttraumatic growth in burn survivors. The results showed that social support positively affected cognitive reappraisal and negatively affected expression suppression. Furthermore, it positively affected posttraumatic growth. Moreover, social support indirectly influenced posttraumatic growth through cognitive reappraisal, which implies that cognitive reappraisal played a partial mediating effect in the relationship between social support and posttraumatic growth. These findings provide new insights into the predictors of posttraumatic growth. Cognitive reappraisal and social support should be taken into account to improve burn survivors' posttraumatic growth.