What Is Expressed in Expressive Writing: Gendered Differences in Narrative Processes for Low Closure Interpersonal and Impersonal Stressors

Introduction: Expressive writing (EW) research has shown this intervention's differential efficacy for various stressors, but the underlying mechanisms are rarely examined. These mechanisms might differ for interpersonal and impersonal stressors and for high- and low closure events. This study explored process (meaning making, coherence) and content (interpersonal decentering) characteristics of EW narratives as possible mechanisms. Method: One hundred seventy-six undergraduates (ages 18-39) wrote EW narratives that were content analyzed to classify the negative event as interpersonal or impersonal. Meaning making, coherence, and interpersonal decentering were scored reliably from those same narratives by different teams of trained expert scorers who were unaware of the hypotheses and the other codings. Results: Women wrote about interpersonal events more than did men. Decentering and meaning making were positively correlated, and both negatively correlated with narrative coherence, for low closure events only. Women writing about low closure interpersonal events activated more meaning making and more mature interpersonal decentering than did other women and men. Conclusion: Our findings provide insight into narrative processes that may contribute to the benefits from EW tasks. Perhaps early adults, especially women, spontaneously activate meaning-making and decentering processes to attain closure for stressful interpersonal events. Encouraging activated cognitive processing in psychotherapy might assist recovery.