Perceived Social Support as Correlates of Posttraumatic Growth among Internally Displaced Persons in Nigeria

Abstract

In recent time, Nigeria is confronted with a lot of humanitarian crisis which has caused a serious setback to people's psychological well-being specifically those living in the area where the crisis is intense. Hence this study aimed to examine social support as a correlate of posttraumatic growth among internally displaced persons in Nigeria. A cross-sectional research design was adopted and 126 IDPs were purposively selected by the researchers. Perceived social support assessment (PSSA) and Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) were administered to one hundred and twenty-six (126) Internally Displaced Persons in Agan internally displaced persons camp, Makurdi Local Government, Area, Benue state. Four hypotheses were formulated and tested using descriptive statistics, Pearson r product moment correlation analysis, and t-test for independent means. The results showed that the majority of the internally displaced persons representing 89.7% experienced low acuity of social support. The results also showed that there was a significant positive relationship between perceived social support and posttraumatic growth among internally displaced persons in Makurdi, Benue State [r=.313 df (124), P<.01]. This signifies the higher the perceived social support, the higher the IDPs grow out of their posttraumatic stressors or events. The result further revealed that there were no significant differences between the male and female experience of posttraumatic growth [t= -.628 df (124); P>.05], but there was a significant influence of age on posttraumatic growth [F= 2.804, df (6,125), P<.05]. Thus, it was concluded that most of the internally displaced persons received little acuity of social support as perceived social support proved to be positively correlated with posttraumatic growth. It was also recommended that the internally displaced persons particularly, those who were diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder should be socially supported by the federal, state, and local government, Non-governmental organizations, private organizations, and host communities to help them grow out of their traumatic experiences thereby ensuring their mental health and psychological wellbeing.