ABSTRACT
Measuring growth following stressful or traumatic life events is both one of the most challenging and most important tasks facing growth researchers. It is imperative that we use comprehensive and valid measurement strategies to capture this phenomenon. While we have made some advances toward this end, we have a long way to go, and some of the most difficult and exciting research endeavors lie in this direction. In this chapter, we describe the current methods of assessing growth and elucidate the strengths and weaknesses of the various methods. We then turn to a discussion of measurement issues. We address the concept of dimensionality and review notions about whether growth is a unitary or multidimensional construct, weighing the evidence for both of these possibilities.
