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Studies

Lyubomirsky et al. (2006): study US 2003

Publication

Author(s):
Lyubomirsky, S.; Dickerhoof, R.; Sousa, L.A.
Title:
The Costs and Benefits of Writing, Talking, and Thinking about Life's Triumphs and Defeats.
Source:
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2006, Vol. 90, 692 - 708

Investigation

Public
Student participants in a life review exercise and controls, California, USA, 2003
Survey name
Unnamed study
Sample
Non-probability chunk sample
Respondents
N = 111
Non Response
Assessment
Multiple assesment methods
1. Respondents completed a packet of outcome measures administered during their ntroductory psychology class. From this initial adminidstration, 36 students were randomly selected to serve as a comparison group, and the remaining 75 were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 experimental groups (writing, talking, or thinking). 2. These 3 experiemntal groups were asked to sign up for 3 conscutive days of participation foloowed by an e-mail contact to take place 4 weeks after their 3rd day of initial participation. The experiemental participants were tested individually. First, they were asked to read an information form that briefly described the tasks involved in the study. Then they received a packet of outcome measures.The outcome measures were administered to respondents 2 times during the course of the study: at Time 1 (1st week of their psychology class for the comparisonb group, and on the 1st day of pasticipation for the 3 experimental groups, and at Time 2 (4 weeks after Time 1)via an e-mail message for all groups.

Happiness Measure(s) and Distributional Findings

Full text:
Self report on 20 questions.

This scale consists of a number of words that describe different feelings and emotions. Read each item and mark the appropriate answer in the space next to that word. Indicate to what extend you feel this way right now:
A  nervous
B  distressed
C  afraid
D  jittery
E  irritable
F  upset
G  scared
H  ashamed
I  guilty
J  hostile
K  excited
L  active
M  determined
N  inspired
O  enthusiastic
P  alert
Q  attentive
R  proud
S  strong
T  interested

Answer options:  
1  very slightly or not at all
2  a little
3  moderately
4  quite a bit
5  extremely

Negative affect score NAS: (A to J) / 10
Positive affect score PAS:  (K to T)/10
Affect Balance Score  (ABS): PAS - NAS

Name: Watson's PANAS ('moment' version)
Classification:
A-BW-m-mq-v-5-e
Author's label:
Affect
Remarks:
mean score intervention groups
Page in publication:
696
Observed distribution
Summary Statistics
On original range -4 - 4 On range 0-10
Mean:
1.43 -
SD:
- -

Correlational Findings

Author's label Subject Description Finding Talking, writing, thinking about happiest experiences in life Change in coping
Current coping-style
Actual changes in happiness
Life-review exercise
Exercise
School
Mandatory
Mono sort
Multiple treatment moments