Assessing Coping Strategies by Analysing Expressive Writing Samples

摘要

This study examined whether coping style can be assessed using a text analysis of expressive writing samples. Participants (? = 153) wrote about a stressful college experience and then completed a depression scale and three coping measures, including the COPE. Writing samples were analysed using Pennebaker's Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count computer programme. Depression scores were related to the use of words denoting negative emotions but were unrelated to the use of the pronoun 'I' Respondents who used more words denoting negative emotions in their essays obtained lower problem-focused coping scores on the COPE. The use of insight-related words was associated with lower scores on measures of emotion-focused coping.