Gratitude Journal, Expressive Writing, and Mindfulness

Ka Yan

and Priska Analya

Faculty of Psychology, Maranatha Christian University, Jl. Surya Sumantri No. 65, Bandung, Indonesia

Keywords: Gratitude Journal, Expressive Writing, Mindfulness.

Abstract: This study, divided into two sub-studies, was aimed at determining the influence of writing on mindfulness.

The first substudy investigated the influence of gratitude journals on mindfulness, while the second substudy

sought for the influence of expressive writing on mindfulness. The participants were 72 students (first

substudy) and 23 students (second substudy). Both substudies involved students grouped in the experimental

group (who received treatment writing) and the control group who did not receive the treatment. The results

of statistical tests in the first substudy showed that there was no effect of writing gratitude journal on

mindfulness, while the results of statistical tests in the second substudy indicated that the score of the group

with expressive writing treatment was higher than that without the treatment. There was no significant

influence of gratitude journal on mindfulness. Similarly, expressive writing showed no significant influence

on mindfulness. However, there was a moderate effect size in participants who received expressive writing

treatment, which needed further study involving larger number of samples. Researchers can also then consider

the characteristics of the sample to be studied (not just students) so as to get a broader picture

1 INTRODUCTION

It is known that period of study is a stressful time,

where students often face personal, social, academic,

economic stress, and so on in various areas of life so

that they are prone to stress (Mutalik et al. 2016).

Hunt & Eisenberg, (2010) revealed that there is an

increase in the number of students at various colleges

experiencing mental health problems. This is because

students face both academic and non-academic

pressures during their college experience—similarly,

the students of psychology, who in their daily life can

not escape from various kinds of forces. Various

studies across the globe have emphasised that

students undertaking professional courses, are

subjected to higher stress (Waghachavare et al. 2013).

The students of the psychology faculty are

classified as psychology scientists who, after their

graduation, have a certain authority to provide

psychological services that aim to make efforts to

prevent, develop, and solve psychological problems

(HIMPSI 2010). The students of the faculty of

psychology are required to be able to help while

providing alternative problem solving for the people

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3720-2258

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5660-1548

who need their expertise (Fitrianingrum 2009). One

of the skills required by psychology students is the

ability to manage their own stress first before

connecting with the client they are about to face. This

is because if the students of the faculty of psychology

have not solved their personal problems first, it will

be difficult for them to deal with other people's

problems.

Stress is a condition or feeling experienced when

an individual perceives that the demands exceed the

individual's personal abilities (Lazarus and Folkman

1984). When the stress of the individual is

experienced, the individual will have the urge to

reduce the perceived stress level. Each individual has

a different way of reducing the level of stress

experienced. Some individuals focus on problem-

solving coping to lower stress levels, but some others

focus on processing their emotions to reduce the level

of stress experienced.

One of the strategies that can be done to process

emotions by individuals is by overflowing the

emotions they bear through spoken or written words

when experiencing high stress. Susilowati & Hasanat

(2015) stated that writing emotional experiences can

448

Yan, K. and Analya, P.

Gratitude Journal, Expressive Writing, and Mindfulness.

DOI: 10.5220/0010753600003112

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Emerging Issues in Humanity Studies and Social Sciences (ICE-HUMS 2021), pages 448-452

ISBN: 978-989-758-604-0

reduce negative emotions possessed by individuals. It

is also in line with a research conducted by

Pennebaker & Chung (2007) that there was a decrease

in negative emotions in students who were asked to

write down their emotional experiences. Writing this

emotional experience is also known as expressive

writing. In addition to expressive writing, one way to

cope with stress is to create a gratitude journal.

Gratitude is defined as a distinctive pleasant feeling—

in the form of gratitude, or gratitude—that arises

when receiving kindness (kindness, compassion,

love), benefits, or altruistic help from others—

especially things that are not actually worthy of

acceptance, which are things that are not caused by

self-effort (Emmons and McCullough 2004). In

recent years, research has shown that gratitude is

strongly associated with some aspects of well-being

and mental health (Watkins, Uhder, and Pichinevskiy

2015), and clinical interventions have been developed

to improve gratitude as a way to foster positive

function, improve well-being, and decrease

psychological disorders (Emmons and McCullough

2003).

In addition, some studies have found gratitude

practices, such as creating gratitude journals that can

improve one's happiness and positive mood.

Gratitude journal or counting blessings is an

intervention designed to improve gratitude (Emmons

and McCullough 2003). This activity involves

writing about five things to be grateful for every day

or every week. In recent years, many studies have

tested the benefits of gratitude in children and

adolescents, for example, older teens will be more

interested in and satisfied with their school life, more

generous and helpful, and more socially integrated.

Other studies suggested that gratitude journaling in

the classroom changed the mood of the students. It is

said that by improving students' subjective well-

being, accompanied by an increase in positive

emotions, students are expected to feel happier and

not feel depressed in their college life (Christanto

2017).

Although many studies stated that gratitude can

improve a person's quality of life, it can not always

improve life satisfaction because when a person is

unaware of an emotional state, then he can show the

thought and action of prototypes caused by a

particular emotional state (Lambie and Marcel 2002).

This is because their awareness of themselves is not

fully activated (Bargh and Chartrand 1999). On the

contrary, expressive writing gives a person the

opportunity to be more 'open' to his emotional state.

Bishop et al. (2004) describes mindfulness as a

process to bring quality attention at any time at a time

from an experience. There are two components in

operational mindfulness, namely (1) maintaining

attention to the current experience and (2) being an

attitude of curiosity, openness, and acceptance of

one's experience. Mindfulness is an approach to raise

awareness and respond to mental processes that

contribute to emotional distress and maladaptive

behavior. Based on this, mindfulness can bridge

relationships related to gratitude and expressive

writing, and life satisfaction (Poon, Alvin; Danoff-

Burg 2011). However, as far as the researchers know,

there has not been much research on these subjects,

so the researchers are interested in researching more

on gratitude journal, expressive writing, and

mindfulness.

2 METHODS (AND MATERIALS)

The research question of this study was whether

gratitude journaling and expressive writing

influenced mindfulness. The study consisted of 2

substudies using experimental methods. Participants

were students, who joined those substudies

voluntarily. Participants in this study were students

who experienced stresses with moderate or high

degrees. The first study, involving 72 students who

were grouped into experimental and control groups

(38 students per group, using randomization for

categorizing to each group). The students in the

experimental group were asked to write down the

positive things that happened in their life (gratitude

journal), namely: 1) what to be grateful for that day,

2) what to expect for the next day, and 3) random

questions on positive things in their life (questions

varied). Journaling was committed for two weeks,

with each week having 3 times of the practice. This

refers to a study from (Lyubomirsky & Layous 2013)

saying that writing a gratitude journal would be more

effectively done once a week than done every day.

The second substudy, involving 23 students who

were also grouped into experimental and control

groups (with 12 students included into experimental

and 11 students included into control group). Students

in the experimental group were asked to write

emotional experiences for 25-30 minutes a day for 4x.

In this writing, students did not need to pay attention

to writing structure but were expected to expand and

explore their deepest experiences and emotions. The

concern of the researchers was the use of words

containing negative as well as positive emotional

content. In addition, in the first and second study, the

participants from both groups (experiments and

controls) should fill out a State Mindfulness

Gratitude Journal, Expressive Writing, and Mindfulness

449

Questionnaire (SMS) at the end of the session to find

out how their mindfulness condition after getting the

treatment (for the experimental group).

SMS is a standard questionnaire compiled by

Tanay & Bernstein (2020), consisting of 21 items,

with five answer options: not at all, slightly

describing, quite describing, illustrating a lot, and

strongly describing the participants. This measuring

instrument has two factors, namely state mindfulness

of mind with Pearson validity value ranging from

0.499-0.815 and state mindfulness of body with

Pearson validity value ranging from 0.621-0.839. The

reliability obtained with alpha Cronbach is 0.755.

The study results were processed using JASP

software (Jeffreys's Amazing Statistics Program), a

free statistical analysis software (open-source)

created by the Department of Psychological Methods,

University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Table 1: Substudy 1. Experimental group.

Gender Percentage (amount)

Male 10,53% (4)

Female 89,47 (34)

Table 2: Substudy 1. Control group.

Gender Percentage (amount)

Male 5,89% (2)

Female 94,12% (32)

Based on the description in the table 1 and 2, in

the study 1, majority of participants were female

(89.4% from the experimental group and 94.12%

from the control group).

Table 3: Substudy 2. Experimental group.

Gender Percentage (amount)

Male 25% (3)

Female 75% (9)

Table 4: Substudy 2. Control group.

Gender Percentage (amount)

Male 0% (0)

Female 100% (11)

Based on the description in the table 3 and 4, in

the substudy 2 majority of participants were female

(75% experimental group and 100% control group).

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table 5: Substudy 1. Descriptive statistics.

Mindfulness

Experimental Control

Valid 38 34

Mean 67.921 69.294

Std. Deviation 5.697 11.074

Minimum 55.000 49.000

Maximum 80.000 91.000

Table 6: Independent samples T-test.

T df P Cohen’s

mindfulness -0.650 48.073 0.519 -0.156

Table 7: Test of normality (Shapiro-Wilk).

W P

Mindfulness Experimental 0.984 0.841

Control 0.977 0.685

Note. Significant results suggest a deviation from

normality.

Table 8: Test of equality of variance (Lavene’s).

F df P

Mindfulness 13.838 1 < .001

The tables 7 and 8 show that the research data in study

1 are normal (p > 0.05) but not of equal invariance (p

< 0.001), therefore independent sample t-test (welch's

t-test) is used Ahad & Yahaya (2014). As a result,

there is no effect of gratitude journaling on

mindfulness. This is in line with the mean between

experimental groups and controls, which are not

significantly different.

Table 9: Substudy 2. Descriptive statistics.

Mindfulness

Experimental Control

Valid 12 11

Mean 78.167 72.091

Std. Deviation 10.760 5.319

Minimum 56.000 62.000

Maximum 98.000 82.000

Table 10: Independent samples T-test.

t Df p Cohen’s d

Score 1.691 1 0.106 0.706

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450

Table 11: Test of normality (Shapiro-Wilk).

W p

Score Experimental

Control

0.975

0.947

0.955

0.610

Note. Significant results suggest a deviation from

normality.

Table 12: Test of equality of variances (Lavene’s).

F f p

Score 2.873 1 0.105

The tables 11 and 12 show that the research data

in study 2 are classified as normal (p > 0.05) and of

equal invariance (p > 0.05), therefore an independent

sample t-test (student t-test) is used (Ahad and

Yahaya 2014). As a result, there is no expressive

writing effect on mindfulness. However, the effect

size indicates 0.706 (cohen's d), which falls into the

moderate category. This is in line with the mean of a

larger experimental group than the control group

(78,167 > 72,091).

Study 1 did not show the effect of gratitude on

mindfulness. Both the experimental and control

groups got relatively similar averages. This is in line

with the exposure put forward by Lyubomirsky &

Layous (2013), which stated that gratitude

intervention has an unstable effect. Research Cregg &

Cheavens (2021) revealed that even if there is a

change in well-being by using gratitude intervention,

it is just a placebo effect. Cregg & Cheavens (2021)

conducted a meta-analysis and stated that gratitude

intervention only has a small effect on symptoms of

depression and anxiety. Gratitude is associated with

positively interpreting several stimuli and life events,

which is contrary to selective attention aimed

negatively at the self, the world, and the future, which

is a character of depression and anxiety. Although the

researchers did not conduct research related to

depression and anxiety, the results of some of the

above researchers need to be a record of the

effectiveness of gratitude journal.

Study 2 found almost the same result, stating that

expressive writing had no effect on mindfulness.

Nonetheless, it was interesting that the average

mindfulness of the experimental group was higher

than that of the control group and the effect size test

(Cohen's d) stated that there were moderate effects.

Ericson (2015) stated that interventions that can be

administered over the internet at this low cost show

that it can prevent and reduce physical and emotional

symptoms. Expressive writing may provide benefits

if participants experience a lower negative affectivity

after making their writing. This is in line with several

studies which stated that expressive writing can

improve the people’s well being (Merz, Fox, and

Malcarne 2014).

Mindfulness accepts thoughts, emotions, and

sensations that arise from consciousness in the

present without giving judgment (Neff and Dahm

2015). In other words, according to the researchers,

mindfulness encourages a person to accept reality for

what it is, both negative and positive. This is in line

with expressive writing, where participants are asked

to write down what they feel, which is not always a

form of negative emotion. Thus, expressive writing

encourages participants to see reality as it is, and by

releasing those emotions, participants avoid

rumination and increased mindfulness. Rumination is

defined as focusing attention on a negative emotional

state, such as intrusive thinking of distressing events,

looking for the meaning of negative things, and

thinking about how to change the negative.

Mindfulness can 'solve' that thought, which

emphasizes the awareness of the present moment

(Deyo et al. 2009).

According to this finding, there is a difference in

focus between expressive writing and gratitude

journal, that has an impact on the difference in the

results between substudy 1 and substudy 2. When

expressive writing emphasizes the disclosure of what

is felt, both negative and positive, gratitude journal

emphasizes more on the disclosure of positive affect

(grateful). This may make the negative affect that

participants actually feel unexpressed, which

ultimately is not resolved. In this case, the

participants did not 'learn' how to receive this

negative affect. This is in line with Pennebaker &

Chung (2007), who stated that expressive writing is

tought to be helpful to express suppressed thoughts,

emotions and give an opportunity for exposure to

unpleasent emotions. The process of expressive

writing also involves labeling emotions related to an

unpleasant event which allows one to assign the event

meaning and accommodate it into one’s existing

cognitive scheme, and thus let go of unresolved

negative emotions. This is different from gratitude

journal which is focusing on positive aspects of lives

rather than allowing to be overwhelmed by negative

events. This makes the mindfulness of the

participants not improve. Nonetheless, this argument

still needs further study. The expressive writing

participants in this study are still very limited, so it

needs further study on how it effects on larger

samples.

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451

4 CONCLUSIONS

Writing in journals has no impact on increasing

mindfulness. However, there was a moderate effect

size in participants who received expresive writing

treatment, which needed further study involving

larger samples. Future studies can also consider the

characteristics of the sample to be studied (not just

students) so as to get a broader picture.

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