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Writing about emotions versus goals: Effects on hostility and medical care utilization moderated by emotional approach coping processes
Author(s) -
Austenfeld Jennifer L.,
Stanton Annette L.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
british journal of health psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.05
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 2044-8287
pISSN - 1359-107X
DOI - 10.1348/135910707x250857
Subject(s) - hostility , psychology , coping (psychology) , clinical psychology , emotional expression , medical care , developmental psychology , medicine , family medicine
Objectives. The study compared emotionally disclosive writing and writing about goals as the ‘best possible self’ to a control condition and evaluated coping through emotional processing (EP) and expression (EE) as moderators of effects at 1‐month follow‐up. Method. Undergraduates ( N = 63) were randomly assigned to emotional disclosure (EMO), best possible self (BPS), or a control condition (CTL). Outcomes were hostility, medical visits, depressive symptoms, physical symptoms, and blood pressure. Results. At 1 month, hostility decreased in high‐EP participants in EMO relative to BPS and decreased in low‐EP participants in BPS relative to EMO. Low‐EP participants had fewer medical visits in BPS, whereas high‐EP participants had more visits in BPS relative to other conditions. Conclusions. Benefits may accrue when the expressive task is matched to the individual's preferred coping strategy.