Journal of College Student Development

We assessed the moderating role of posttraumatic growth on the relationship between traumatic life events and suicidal ideation and behavior, suicide risk, and college adjustment. The sample of 557 college students completed questionnaires measuring their severity and number of traumatic life events, posttraumatic growth, suicidal thoughts, behavior, risk, and college adjustment. Students with the most severe traumatic life events, if they had experienced posttraumatic growth following their trauma, were less likely to have high suicide risk and more likely to have better college adjustment. Posttraumatic growth may be important in ameliorating the effects of suicide-inducing trauma.