A robust body of research has documented how expressive writing about difficult or traumatic experiences can be beneficial across a range of domains. Relatively little research, on the other hand, has documented the impact of expressive writing activities on positive events. In this randomized controlled trial, adolescents (N = 350) beginning ninth grade in three schools serving mostly low-income students of color participated in a 45-min writing workshop. They were prompted to write about either a negative or positive life event, then edit their writing to include themes thought to insulate them from the possible threats to identity that can come with the transition to high school. We find evidence that positive expressive writing activities are more academically beneficial than expressive writing about negative events. Compared with students who wrote about a failure and subsequent resilience, students who detailed how they attained an important success showed a more positive trajectory for absences (β = −.417; p = .008) and detentions (β = −.962; p = .034), and those who wrote about a generally happy life event showed a better trajectory for grade point average (β = .622; p = .043). Exploratory analyses also show that, regardless of condition, including themes of the “self as competent” and “savoring” good experiences was associated with improved academic outcomes. Including themes of “resilience” was not, across conditions, associated with improved outcomes unless students at the same time included “self as competent” themes.

中文翻译：

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积极与消极表达性写作练习对青少年学业成绩的影响

大量研究记录了关于困难或创伤经历的富有表现力的写作如何在一系列领域有益。另一方面，相对较少的研究记录了表达性写作活动对积极事件的影响。在这项随机对照试验中，青少年（N= 350) 在三所主要为低收入有色人种学生服务的学校从九年级开始参加了一个 45 分钟的写作研讨会。他们被提示写一个消极或积极的生活事件，然后编辑他们的写作，包括被认为使他们免受可能随着向高中过渡而对身份造成威胁的主题。我们发现有证据表明积极的表达性写作活动比关于消极事件的表达性写作在学术上更有益。与描述失败和随后的复原力的学生相比，详细描述他们如何获得重要成功的学生在缺勤 ( β =  -.417; p =  .008 ) 和滞留 ( β =  -.962; p= .034），而那些写了一个普遍幸福的生活事件的人表现出更好的平均绩点轨迹（β = .622；p = .043）。探索性分析还表明，无论条件如何，包括“自我能力”和“品味”良好经历的主题都与提高学业成绩有关。除非学生同时将“自我作为有能力的”主题包括在内，否则在不同条件下包括“弹性”主题并不与改善结果相关。