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Effects of Benefit‐Focused Versus Standard Expressive Writing on Adolescents' Self‐Concept During the High School Transition
Author(s) -
Facchin Federica,
Margola Davide,
Molgora Sara,
Revenson Tracey A.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of research on adolescence
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.342
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1532-7795
pISSN - 1050-8392
DOI - 10.1111/jora.12040
Subject(s) - psychology , feeling , transition (genetics) , interpersonal communication , intervention (counseling) , developmental psychology , randomized controlled trial , academic writing , social psychology , mathematics education , clinical psychology , medicine , biochemistry , chemistry , gene , surgery , psychiatry
This randomized trial compared two types of expressive writing—benefit‐focused versus standard expressive writing—with a factual writing (control) condition in enhancing adolescents' self‐concept during the transition to high school. First‐year male students ( N = 201) wrote on three consecutive days about either the potential benefits of the school transition, their deepest thoughts and feelings about this transition, or their school activities. The benefit‐focused group had better short‐term academic self‐concept relative to the other two conditions, especially among students who had low academic self‐concept at baseline, but these changes were not lasting. Writing about the benefits of the transition may be a cost‐effective school‐based intervention to strengthen academic self‐concept, but may need augmentation with booster sessions or interpersonal discussion.