Children's narratives and well-being

Abstract

Research with adults indicates that writing causal-explanatory and emotionally disclosing narratives of stressful experiences is related to psychological well-being. Limited research with children has shown mixed results, but developmental theory suggests that simple extrapolation from adult findings might be problematic. In this study, 9-to 13-year-old children engaged in three days of writing under emotional and non-emotional instructions, and completed measures of depression, anxiety, strengths and difficulties, and somatic symptoms both at baseline and 2 months following intervention. Narratives were coded using a developmentally appropriate, exhaustive coding system. Children in the emotional writing group wrote more about negative evaluations, problems, emotions, explanations and coping than children in the non-emotional writing group. However, those children who wrote more about negative evaluations, problems and explanations subsequently showed higher levels of anxiety, depression and difficulties. Due to limited narrative and emotional regulation skills, expressive writing may not benefit, and may even be detrimental for, some children.Narratives are socially and culturally conventionalised forms for organising and representing our past experiences (Bruner, 1987;McAdams, 1992). Because personal narratives move beyond simple memory of what happened to include explanations and emotional evaluations, narratives are the way in which we create meaning of our personal past, and are linked to Correspondence should be addressed to: Robyn Fivush,

The Benefits and Risks of Telling and Listening to Stories of Difficulty Over Time: Experimentally Testing the Expressive Writing Paradigm in the Context of Interpersonal Communication Between Friends

“…Most research from the expressive writing paradigm shows increases in psychological health, such as positive affect, for tellers; however, there are exceptions. For example, Fivush, Marin, and Crawford (2007) conducted a study in which 8-to 13-year-olds wrote about interpersonal problems and attributions for others' behavior and found an increase in depression and anxiety over time. The Fivush et al participants wrote about interpersonal problems, and participants in the current study communicated about their problems interpersonally.…”

Children's and adolescents' narratives of guilt: Antecedents and mentalization

“…Only in recent years have narrative methods begun to be applied to the study of emotions through the use of autobiographical narratives (e.g., Baumeister, Stillwell, & Heatherton, 1995;Fivush, Marin, Crawford, Reynolds, & Brewin, 2007;Silfver, 2007). This has involved investment in the creation of relevant ad hoc instruments and specific content analysis procedures on the part of researchers (Silfver, 2007).…”

Proceedings of the 9th Conference of the Australasian Society for Cognitive Science

“…These physical sensations are the embodied pleasures she has repeatedly felt when writing and constructing a narrative and reflect the wellknown psychological benefits -the sense of peace and well-being the disclosing of a narrative creates (Fivush et al, 2007 Briony desperately wants Robbie to be the villain. She readily encodes his strange behaviour with her sister by the fountain and in the library, and his "brutal" (113) letter as evidence of Robbie's trait-based behaviour that confirms and justifies her beliefs.…”

“…She "felt a strange weight lifting from her and a warm submissive feeling spread from her stomach to her limbs" (174). These physical sensations are the embodied pleasures she has repeatedly felt when writing and constructing a narrative and reflect the wellknown psychological benefits -the sense of peace and well-being the disclosing of a narrative creates (Fivush et al, 2007). Briony's confabulation is the peak of her joy.…”