Positive and negative emotional writing in adolescence: Gender differences, benefits, and effects on self-disclosure and intimacy

Adolescence is a key period for the development of intimate friendships. These friendships are important in that they serve several functions such as companionship, emotional support, and informational support. During adolescence, more time is spent with peers than parents, and being accepted by peers has important ramifications on mood, behavior, and adjustment. Failure to develop intimate relationships can lead to loneliness and isolation.; An important aspect in developing intimate relationships is self-disclosure. Self-disclosure refers to the revealing of emotional and personal information to another. Self-disclosure is associated with self-esteem, identity formation, and the development of close friends. There are certain risks that are associated with self-disclosure. First, if one does not often self-disclose, the development of intimacy is likely to be hampered. This may prevent an adolescent from feeling accepted, receiving or expressing empathy with another, or receiving information relevant to development. Lack of disclosing may also have health and psychological consequences, as described in the literature by Pennebaker.; At the opposite end of the disclosure spectrum is the concept of disclosing too much. Studies indicate that persons who reveal inappropriate amounts (in either quality or quantity) of negative experiences sometimes lose social support as people often do not like being around others who are negative. Thus, it seems that mastering an appropriate level of disclosing is important in adolescent adjustment.; The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of writing about emotional events on adolescent disclosure patterns. Several studies have indicated that writing about negative or positive emotional events leads to improved health and psychological adjustment. Current cognitive theories suggest that writing helps to eliminate "fragments" of experiences and leads to a more complete, concise experience. It was thought that a writing intervention may serve as a behavioral rehearsal that would facilitate appropriate self-disclosure in adolescents, thus leading to the benefits of an intimate relationship.; The current study used a 2 (gender) x 3 (writing topic: stressful event, best possible future self, non-emotion) x 2 (time) design. Participants were 45 adolescents (15 males, 30 females) in the 7th or 8 th grade at a local middle school. Participants wrote on their assigned topic for 20 minutes a day on 3 different days over a 2-week period. Adolescents in the study completed measures of adjustment, self-disclosure, and intimacy 1 week prior to writing and again 4 weeks after writing. It was hypothesized that those who wrote about positive or negative emotional experiences would experience improved adjustment, increased willingness to self-disclose to their friends and increased intimacy in a best friend relationship. Furthermore, it was predicted that prior to writing, males would report less intimacy and willingness to self-disclose prior to writing than females, but would experience a greater increase on these domains following writing.; Results indicated that adolescents who wrote about a stressful event reported more willingness to self-disclose 4 weeks after the writing task. Furthermore, they reported decreased feelings of loneliness and increased intimacy in their friendships. Adolescents who wrote about their "best possible future self" reported a decrease in intrusive thoughts, but no other significant impact was noted. No reliable gender differences were observed. Adolescent essays did not follow the same pattern as adult essays, as the use of emotion words increased while the use of insight words decreased.; The study supports previous findings regarding the positive benefits of writing about stressful events and indicates that a writing intervention may be useful in promoting self-disclosure and intimacy in adolescent relationships. The study also demonstrated the utility of the wri...