Resilience after the quake: life engagement and humor as pathways to trauma recovery

Şıhmehmet Yiğit, Oğulcan USUFLU, Mehmet Behzat Turan, Sevim Kır, Hakkı Ulucan, İbrahim Dalbudak, Osman Pepe, Gül Bahar Bayıroğlu

Frontiers in Psychology, 2026

Full text Open access: Gold Metadata (CSL-JSON)
DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1791041
Data confidence 85 high
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Abstract

Background: Earthquakes are frequently associated with elevated levels of psychological trauma, particularly among vulnerable groups. In this context, understanding the conceptual pathways and relational processes through which individuals cope becomes an important focus for research. Objective: This study investigates the serial mediation role of life engagement and coping humor in the link between psychological resilience and trauma among physical education and sport teachers affected by the earthquake, aiming to clarify how individual and psychosocial resources contribute to post-trauma adaptation. Methods: The study was conducted with 689 physical education and sport teachers affected by the earthquake. Data were collected using the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), the Life Engagement Scale (LES), the Coping Humor Scale (CHS), and the Post Earthquake Trauma Level Determination Scale (PETLDS). Statistical analyses were performed with SPSS v22. The relationships among the variables were examined using Pearson correlation and regression analyses, and serial mediation associations were tested using the PROCESS Macro v3.5 (Model 6) with 5,000 bootstrap samples. Results: = 0.030). Life engagement and coping humor were associated with this relationship through statistically significant indirect pathways, as indicated by bootstrap confidence intervals that did not include zero [a1b1 = -0.110, 95% CI (-0.231, -0.018); a2b2 = -0.077, 95% CI (-0.183, -0.004); a1d1b2 = -0.033, 95% CI (-0.082, -0.003)]. These findings indicate that resilience, life engagement, and coping humor are related through theoretically consistent indirect associations within the proposed serial mediation framework. Conclusion: Psychological resilience, life engagement, and coping humor were associated with individuals' trauma experiences following the earthquake. The findings indicate that these factors constitute relevant psychosocial resources in post-disaster contexts; however, their potential implications should be interpreted cautiously, given the study's cross-sectional design.