Figure 1. A report, a baseline, and a change are different records

Prospective studies separate retrospective perceived growth from measured change, while keeping each event, sample, interval, and outcome distinct.

Figure 1. A report, a baseline, and a change are different records. Prospective studies separate retrospective perceived growth from measured change, while keeping each event, sample, interval, and outcome distinct.
Source	Design and denominator	What was compared	Observed relation	Main non-proof
S2	Two-month prospective study; n=122 event subgroup	PTGI retrospective report versus measured pre-to-post domain change	Generally unrelated	No claim that growth never occurs
S3	Two-wave student study; n=282 baseline; n=219 to 221 raw follow-up; n=214 to 218 full-sample analytic; 66 raw event reports; n=61 to 64 analytic event subset	Perceived PTG, perceived general growth, and measured pre-to-post change	Perceived PTG was not significantly related to the other two change records	No generalization beyond the small student event subgroup
S4	Stem-cell-transplant study; n=187 first; n=157 second; n=91 third	PTGI at follow-up versus repeated domain measures	Weak composite relation; three of five paired domains not significantly related	No cross-trauma prevalence claim; attrition remains material
S7	Three waves over six months; Wave 1 n=804; 32,099 daily assessments	Perceived PTG versus later current-standing and aggregated daily-state change	Did not predict later observed change in the tested models	No conclusion about longer horizons or every subgroup

Scope: Four prospective or measurement-burst studies published from 2009 through 2024
Units: Participants, completed questionnaires, experience-sampling assessments, and direction-of-result labels
Denominator: Study-specific only; the rows must not be summed: S2 n=122; S3 baseline n=282, 219 to 221 raw follow-up returns, 214 to 218 full-sample analytic comparisons, 66 raw event reports, and n=61 to 64 in trauma-subset analytic comparisons; S4 n=187 first, 157 second, and 91 third; S7 Wave 1 n=804 and 32,099 assessments
Date: Sources first published online from 2009-06-08 through 2023-07-20, with S7 in a 2024 issue; observed 2026-09-05
Transformation: Findings are paraphrased with study-specific direction labels; no pooling, standardization, interpolation, or cross-study ranking is performed
Uncertainty: Events, samples, follow-up windows, measures, attrition, and statistical models differ across rows
Limitations: The matrix is illustrative rather than exhaustive, and none of the samples represents every kind of adverse event or recovery context.
Does not prove: The figure does not show that positive change never happens, determine whether a particular report is accurate, predict any person's recovery, or tell a reader what care to seek.

Sources