Comparison of self-disclosures: Native American to non-Native American college students in diary and dialogue journals

Studies of college graduation rates reveal that proportionally larger numbers of Native Americans do not complete college degrees when compared to non-Native Americans. This study sought to determine if journal writing is an effective means to facilitate communication regarding issues which may be barriers to the academic success of Native American college students.;The purpose of the study was to examine the differences between Native Americans and non-Native Americans regarding both the quantity and intimacy of self-disclosures made in diary or dialogue journals. The 56 subjects were separated according to ethnicity and then randomly placed in either diary or dialogue journal groups. The researcher responded in writing to the dialogue journal entries; no written response was made to the diary journal entries.;Journal entries were analyzed by (a) the number of words written in each entry, (b) the number of disclosures per entry and (c) the level of intimacy of each disclosure. The level of intimacy was measured as being of low, medium or high intimacy according to the Intimacy Rating Scale developed by Strassberg and Anchor (1975a). Research findings revealed that subjects in the dialogue journal group tended to make more disclosures, write at greater length, and disclose more intimate information than did subjects in the diary journal group, regardless of ethnicity. Comparisons of ethnic groups suggest that Native Americans tend to disclose less personal intimate information than do non-Native Americans. However, no differences were found between the two ethnic groups on the measures of number of words or number of disclosures made in the journals.