This paper surveyed 358 college students in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do area to examine the relation between
posttraumatic experiences(sufferings during trauma and recent sufferings), posttraumatic growth, and
cognitive emotion regulation strategies(both adaptive and maladaptive). The findings of the survey are as
follows. First, female students frequently experience spiritual/religious interests whereas male students
frequently use positive focus change and self-blame. Second, suffering during trauma was observed to be
positively correlated with recent suffering, posttraumatic growth, and cognitive emotion regulation
strategies. Cognitive emotion regulation strategies were observed to be negatively correlated with recent
suffering and positively correlated with maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies. Third,
posttraumatic experiences were categorized to suffering during trauma and recent suffering to be examined
for how they affect posttraumatic growth as well as to prove mediating effects of cognitive emotion
regulation strategies. Investigation showed that positive re-evaluation, which is a sub-factor to adaptive
cognitive emotion regulation strategies, has a partially mediating effect in the relation between recent
suffering and posttraumatic growth. The paper concludes with the significance of the survey results along
with suggestions for further investigation.