Results of an Italian school-based expressive writing intervention trial focused on peer problems

This study investigated the effectiveness of an expressive writing intervention in a sample of Italian early adolescents on internalizing and post-traumatic stress symptoms and coping strategies. Participants were 155 Italian adolescents (48% male), attending 7th grade (M =12.24 yrs, SD = 0.47). Youth were randomly assigned either to write about personal emotional events related to problems they recently experienced with peers, or trivial topics. Data were collected before and two months following the intervention. Analyses revealed no overall intervention effects on symptoms. However, level of peer victimization moderated the effects of the intervention on coping strategies, such that victimized youth in the intervention showed increases in cognitive restructuring and avoidance coping, relative to other groups. Thus, expressive writing affected coping strategies but not internalizing problems in our early adolescent sample.