ERIC Number: EJ683279
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2004-Nov-1
Pages: 10
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1537-4416
EISSN: N/A
Expressive Writing Intervention for Adolescents' Somatic Symptoms and Mood
Soliday, Elizabeth; Garofalo, John P.; Rogers, Debra
Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, v33 n4 p792-801 Nov 2004
The effects of a widely used expressive writing intervention on adolescents' somatic symptoms, distress, and positive psychological functioning were evaluated. Eighth-grade (n = 106) students were randomly assigned to write about either an emotional or a neutral topic for 3 consecutive days. Students completed measures of somatic symptoms, medical visits, distress, and positive functioning at baseline, postintervention, and 2 and 6 weeks later. Somatic symptoms and medical visits were unchanged as a result of the intervention. However, significant Time ? Condition effects indicated that optimism scores increased, negative-affect scores decreased, and positive-affect words in student essays increased in the experimental condition. Expressive writing shows promise as a cost-efficient intervention to address the emotional concerns of young adolescents; further work with clinical populations may lead to even more robust results.
Descriptors: Grade 8, Psychological Patterns, Essays, Adolescents, Expressive Language, Self Expression, Writing (Composition), Symptoms (Individual Disorders), Program Effectiveness, Emotional Response, Physical Health
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Grade 8
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A