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Expressive writing involves writing about one's deepest thoughts and feelings surrounding an emotional event. The current literature on the efficacy of expressive writing is mixed and warrants further investigation into how, when, and for whom expressive writing is an effective intervention. The goal of this study is to compare the efficacy of expressive writing interventions in young adults when people imagine that they're writing to themselves vs. a loved one. Participants will carry out an expressive writing exercise for 14 consecutive days. Participants are randomized into 3 groups: Self, Other, and Control. The Self group is instructed to write as if they were talking to themselves. The Other group is instructed to direct their writing to someone they feel close to. The Control group is asked to write down a factual description of their routine that day, and direct this writing to themselves. We will recruit participants until we have usable data from 53 participants per group (i.e., 159 in total).
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| Label | Type | Description | Intervention Names |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self | Experimental | The Self group is instructed to carry out the expressive writing exercise as if they were writing to themselves. |
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| Other | Experimental | The Other group is instructed to carry out the expressive writing exercise as if they were writing to someone they feel close to. |
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| Control | Placebo Comparator | The Control group is asked to write down a factual description of their routine that day, as if they were writing to themselves. |
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| Name | Type | Description | Arm Group Labels | Other Names |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expressive Writing: Self | Behavioral | This intervention consists of a daily expressive writing exercise carried out for 14 consecutive days, for 15 minutes each day. Expressive writing involves asking participants to write about their deepest thoughts and feelings surrounding an emotional event. Participants in this condition will write as if they are writing to themselves. |
| Measure | Description | Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
| Anxiety | Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7). Scores range from 0-21, with higher scores indicating more severe anxiety. | Initial visit (day 1), mid-point (day 7) final visit (day 15), 1-month follow-up (1 month after day 14) |
| Depression | Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8). Scores range from 0-24, with higher scores indicating more severe depression. | Initial visit (day 1), mid-point (day 7), final visit (day 15), 1-month follow-up (1 month after day 14) |
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| Measure | Description | Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
| Sleep Quality | Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Total scores range from 0-21, with higher scores indicating poorer sleep quality. | Initial visit (day 1), final visit (day 15), 1-month follow-up (1 month after day 14) |
| Depression, Anxiety, and Stress |
Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria:
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| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Erik Nook, PhD | Princeton University | Principal Investigator |
| Facility | Status | City | State | ZIP | Country | Contacts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peretsman Scully Hall | Princeton | New Jersey | 08540 | United States |
| PubMed Identifier | Type | Citation | Retractions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3745650 | Background | Pennebaker JW, Beall SK. Confronting a traumatic event: toward an understanding of inhibition and disease. J Abnorm Psychol. 1986 Aug;95(3):274-81. doi: 10.1037//0021-843x.95.3.274. No abstract available. |
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Upon study completion, a subset of the de-identified data will be transferred to OSF, which will provide public access to this data. Writing content will not be transferred to OSF, though we will make thoroughly de-identified data available to researchers who have completed appropriate ethics training, agree to confidentiality restrictions, and whose research goals are in line with the purpose of this study.
Beginning after publication of results with no end date.
A subset of the de-identified data will be publicly available on the OSF.
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| ID | Term |
|---|---|
| D001008 | Anxiety Disorders |
| D003863 | Depression |
| D000092862 | Psychological Well-Being |
| ID | Term |
|---|---|
| D001523 | Mental Disorders |
| D001526 | Behavioral Symptoms |
| D001519 | Behavior |
| D010549 | Personal Satisfaction |
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|
| Expressive Writing: Other | Behavioral | This intervention consists of a daily expressive writing exercise carried out for 14 consecutive days, for 15 minutes each day. Expressive writing involves asking participants to write about their deepest thoughts and feelings surrounding an emotional event. Participants in this condition will write as if they are writing/talking to someone they're close to. |
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| Factual Writing | Behavioral | This intervention consists of a daily factual writing exercise carried out for 14 consecutive days, for 15 minutes each day. Participants are asked to give a factual description of their day. This is a standard control for Expressive writing studies. Participants in this condition will be asked to direct their writing to themselves. |
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Depression, Anxiety, and Stress-21 (DASS-21). Scores for each of the three subscales range from 0-42, with higher scores indicating greater severity.
| Initial visit (day 1), final visit (day 15), 1-month follow-up (1 month after day 14) |
| Alexithymia (TAS) | Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20). Scores range from 20-100, with higher scores indicating greater alexithymia. | Initial visit (day 1), final visit (day 15), 1-month follow-up (1 month after day 14) |
| Alexithymia (PAQ) | Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire (PAQ). Total scores range from 24-168, with higher scores indicating greater alexithymia. | Initial visit (day 1), final visit (day 15), 1-month follow-up (1 month after day 14) |
| Emotion Regulation | Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ). Scores for the reappraisal and suppression subscales range from 6-42 and 4-28 respectively. Higher scores indicate greater use of the strategy. | Initial visit (day 1), final visit (day 15), 1-month follow-up (1 month after day 14) |
| Interpersonal Regulation | Interpersonal Regulation Questionnaire (IRQ). Total scores range from 16-112, with higher scores indicating greater tendency to use/efficacy of interpersonal emotion regulation. | Initial visit (day 1), final visit (day 15), 1-month follow-up (1 month after day 14) |
| Social Desirability | Marlow-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MC-SDS). Scores range from 0-33, with higher scores indicating greater social desirability. | Initial visit (day 1), final visit (day 15), 1-month follow-up (1 month after day 14) |
| Social Connectedness | Social Connectedness Scale (SCS). Scores range from 8-48, with higher scores indicating greater connectedness to others. | Initial visit (day 1), final visit (day 15), 1-month follow-up (1 month after day 14) |
| Daily Sleep | Consensus Sleep Diary (CSD). Items are used to derive estimates of sleep indices, such as time in bed and total sleep time. | Daily from day 1 to day 14 |
| Sleepiness | Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS). Scores on this single-item scale range from 1-10, with higher scores indicating greater sleepiness. | Daily from day 1 to day 14 |