Expressive Writing as a Strategy to Reduce Academic Stress and Enhance Writing Productivity among a Sample of Graduate Students

Abstract

A growing number of graduate students report high levels of academic stress and experience diminished writing productivity. Scholars have suggested that Expressive writing (EW) has numerous health-related benefits. However, to date, none of the previous research has examined the role of EW in managing academic stress and writing productivity, or explored the connection among EW, writing anxiety, writing self-efficacy, writing self-awareness, and writing productivity among graduate students. This dissertation fills this gap by examining whether EW is an effective toward this end. The first study comprised a meta-analysis of the relationship between EW and stress and answered two questions: 1) Does EW alleviate stress? And, if so, 2) For whom does EW as a stress management tool work best? This meta-analysis updated previous syntheses of research examining the findings of EW and various health outcomes of 22 studies, summarized the effect of EW interventions on stress. The overall effect size — Hedges g = 0.411 — indicated a positive, statistically significant, and moderately sized relationship between EW and stress reduction. An analysis of various moderators revealed that EW interventions seem to work best for reducing stress among younger populations (< 49 years old). The second study comprised an exploration of the effect(s) of EW on academic stress and writing productivity among a sample of 42 graduate students at a large university in the US. The following three questions were asked: Question 1: What are the characteristics of graduate students concerning writing anxiety, writing self-efficacy, and writing self-awareness, as these relate to their academic stress and writing productivity? Question 2: What is the impact of completing an EW intervention on graduate students perceived academic stress, writing anxiety, writing self-efficacy, writing self-awareness and writing productivity? Question 3: Based on the content of the participants’ essays — written during the intervention — what are the characteristics of these essays (e.g., length of the text, use of positive/negative terms, and topics expressed)? Furthermore, does the content of these essays suggest any patterns or trends? The outcome of this study shows that EW was useful for enhancing writing self-awareness and potential for being a useful, cost-effective stress management strategy/tool.