University of Isfahan Research in Cognitive and Behavioral Sciences 2251-7642 13 1 2023 08 23 The Effect of Written Emotional Disclosure on Mindfulness and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies The Effect of Written Emotional Disclosure on Mindfulness and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies 23 42 27777 10.22108/cbs.2023.134700.1678 FA Majid Yousefi Afrashteh Associate Professor in Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran Fatemeh Ayar M.A. in Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran Journal Article 2022 08 11 In recent years, researchers have investigated and studied written emotional disclosure as an effective method on various psychological variables and have shown that this intervention has many positive physical and psychological effects on people. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of written emotional disclosure on mindfulness and cognitive emotion regulation strategies in college students. The statistical population consisted of students studying at University of Zanjan in 2020, from which 40 students were selected by convenience sampling and were randomly assigned to the research groups including the experimental and control groups. The experimental group performed written emotional disclosure in five sessions of 30 minutes for two weeks. The measurement tools were five-faceted questionnaires of mindfulness and cognitive regulation of emotion. Covariance analysis was used to analyze the data. The findings showed that written emotional disclosure had a positive and significant effect on mindfulness and compromised and non-compromising strategies of cognitive emotion regulation (p <.05). Therefore, written emotional disclosure can be considered as a low-cost, effective and efficient way to face negative and unpleasant events and incidents in life. Introduction Mindfulness means paying attention to purposeful, indescribable ways, based on the present, far from judging and prejudging the current events of life (Kabat-Zinn, 2003) and is a mental capacity in which different people are different and through different methods. It is strengthened. Interventions that focus the mind have positive effects on people's health, including improving mood, reducing pain, and improving quality of life (Marusak et al., 2018). Mindfulness is strongly related to emotion regulation and includes non-reactive awareness and acceptance of experiences in it (Galla et al., 2016). Emotion regulation is one of the important and basic factors of well-being that plays an important role in people's adaptation to stressful events (Aldao et al., 2010). One of the common strategies of emotion regulation is the use of cognitive regulation and it includes people's ways of thinking when experiencing a harmful and damaging incident (Salehi et al., 2020). According to what was said in relation to mindfulness and cognitive emotion regulation strategies, all people face stressful and painful events every day, which cause their mental balance to be disrupted. Various researches have shown that written emotional disclosure is a way to heal these injuries (Pennebaker and Evans, 2019/2014). Researches that have been conducted so far in relation to emotional disclosure have shown that written emotional disclosure, about the deepest thoughts, emotions and traumatic events, leads to the improvement of people's performance (Pennebaker and Smyth, 2016). During his life, a person is always involved in various incidents, some of which are stressful, unfortunate, and painful, and hiding them creates dire consequences for a person. Writing about these events has many positive effects on people's lives (Pennebaker and Evans, 2019/2014). Past researches have shown the effect of written emotional disclosure on physical and mental health, improving quality of life, optimism and life expectancy. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of written emotional disclosure on mindfulness and cognitive emotion regulation strategies in college students. Methodology The method of this research is semi-experimental with a pre-test and post-test design with a control group. The statistical population consists of students studying in Zanjan State University in the academic year 2020-2021, from which 40 people were selected by convenience sampling method and after obtaining consent, they were assigned into two groups of 20 people as the experimental and the control group. The intervention used in the present study was based on the instructions of Pennebaker and Evans (2019/2014). The members of the two experimental and control groups completed the Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and the Cognitive Regulation of Emotion (CERQ). The members of the experimental group were asked to start writing for two weeks, five sessions of 30 minutes and based on the emotion disclosure instructions that were taught in detail by the researcher. The control group did not do any intervention during this period. After two weeks, both groups completed the mentioned questionnaires again. The statistical method of multivariate covariance analysis was used to analyze the data. Results Considering the use of pre-test and post-test, multivariate covariance analysis was used. The Shapiro-Wilk test was used to check the normality of the distribution and it showed that the distribution of all variables is normal. The precondition of homogeneity of variance was checked with Levine's test. The precondition of homogeneity of regression coefficients for the analysis of covariance of mindfulness was checked by measuring the interaction effect of the pre-test with the group, and a significance level greater than 0.05 was obtained for all components except non-judgment. In the second covariance analysis, this interaction effect for both compromised and non-compromised strategies had a significance level higher than 0.05, which shows the confirmation of this hypothesis. For the variables of mindfulness and cognitive emotion regulation strategies, the significance of Wilks's lambda test from multivariate tests showed that written emotional disclosure had a significant effect on at least one of the dependent variables. The results of univariate covariance analysis to determine the effectiveness of written emotional disclosure on the components and the total score of mindfulness and emotion regulation strategies show the positive effect of this method on mindfulness and emotion regulation strategies in students. Discussion and Conclusion Examining the effect of written emotional disclosure on the students' mindfulness showed that this method had an effect on increasing the mindfulness scores of the post-test compared to the pre-test. The results of this research are in line with the study of Moore and Brody (2009), which states that emotional self-disclosure in writing improves people's mindfulness skills. The study of the effect of written emotional disclosure on the cognitive regulation strategies of emotion in students showed that this method had an effect on increasing the scores of compromised post-test strategies compared to the pre-test scores and decreasing the scores of non-compromised post-test strategies compared to the pre-test scores. The results of this research are in line with Cetinkaya's (2020) study, which states that written emotional self-disclosure is a very effective coping strategy to deal with negative emotions and reduce them. Niederhoffer and Pennebaker (2002) state that keeping information in front of you causes a lot of mental tension and pressure and as a result requires a lot of effort, so disclosing this information reduces this mental pressure. Writing about emotional and emotional issues has a great impact on physical and mental health. In general, considering the effectiveness of written emotional disclosure in increasing mindfulness and the use of compromised strategies and reducing the use of non-compromised strategies of cognitive regulation of emotion in students, it can be said that using this method along with other existing methods improves the psychological condition of students. Therefore, considering the importance of students in various scientific, social, cultural, economic and political mechanisms of the society, counselors and psychologists can use this method as a practical and effective method. Since the sample group studied were students, therefore, the generalization of the results to other sample groups such as people with different education levels and different age groups is problematic. Therefore, it is suggested that the current research be tested on other demographic samples, such as different education levels, and the effect of gender and its moderating role and the effect of other demographic variables on dependent variables are investigated. Also, the effectiveness of written emotional disclosure on improving the performance of other psychological variables should be tested. In recent years, researchers have investigated and studied written emotional disclosure as an effective method on various psychological variables and have shown that this intervention has many positive physical and psychological effects on people. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of written emotional disclosure on mindfulness and cognitive emotion regulation strategies in college students. The statistical population consisted of students studying at University of Zanjan in 2020, from which 40 students were selected by convenience sampling and were randomly assigned to the research groups including the experimental and control groups. The experimental group performed written emotional disclosure in five sessions of 30 minutes for two weeks. The measurement tools were five-faceted questionnaires of mindfulness and cognitive regulation of emotion. Covariance analysis was used to analyze the data. The findings showed that written emotional disclosure had a positive and significant effect on mindfulness and compromised and non-compromising strategies of cognitive emotion regulation (p <.05). Therefore, written emotional disclosure can be considered as a low-cost, effective and efficient way to face negative and unpleasant events and incidents in life. Introduction Mindfulness means paying attention to purposeful, indescribable ways, based on the present, far from judging and prejudging the current events of life (Kabat-Zinn, 2003) and is a mental capacity in which different people are different and through different methods. It is strengthened. Interventions that focus the mind have positive effects on people's health, including improving mood, reducing pain, and improving quality of life (Marusak et al., 2018). Mindfulness is strongly related to emotion regulation and includes non-reactive awareness and acceptance of experiences in it (Galla et al., 2016). Emotion regulation is one of the important and basic factors of well-being that plays an important role in people's adaptation to stressful events (Aldao et al., 2010). One of the common strategies of emotion regulation is the use of cognitive regulation and it includes people's ways of thinking when experiencing a harmful and damaging incident (Salehi et al., 2020). According to what was said in relation to mindfulness and cognitive emotion regulation strategies, all people face stressful and painful events every day, which cause their mental balance to be disrupted. Various researches have shown that written emotional disclosure is a way to heal these injuries (Pennebaker and Evans, 2019/2014). Researches that have been conducted so far in relation to emotional disclosure have shown that written emotional disclosure, about the deepest thoughts, emotions and traumatic events, leads to the improvement of people's performance (Pennebaker and Smyth, 2016). During his life, a person is always involved in various incidents, some of which are stressful, unfortunate, and painful, and hiding them creates dire consequences for a person. Writing about these events has many positive effects on people's lives (Pennebaker and Evans, 2019/2014). Past researches have shown the effect of written emotional disclosure on physical and mental health, improving quality of life, optimism and life expectancy. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of written emotional disclosure on mindfulness and cognitive emotion regulation strategies in college students. Methodology The method of this research is semi-experimental with a pre-test and post-test design with a control group. The statistical population consists of students studying in Zanjan State University in the academic year 2020-2021, from which 40 people were selected by convenience sampling method and after obtaining consent, they were assigned into two groups of 20 people as the experimental and the control group. The intervention used in the present study was based on the instructions of Pennebaker and Evans (2019/2014). The members of the two experimental and control groups completed the Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and the Cognitive Regulation of Emotion (CERQ). The members of the experimental group were asked to start writing for two weeks, five sessions of 30 minutes and based on the emotion disclosure instructions that were taught in detail by the researcher. The control group did not do any intervention during this period. After two weeks, both groups completed the mentioned questionnaires again. The statistical method of multivariate covariance analysis was used to analyze the data. Results Considering the use of pre-test and post-test, multivariate covariance analysis was used. The Shapiro-Wilk test was used to check the normality of the distribution and it showed that the distribution of all variables is normal. The precondition of homogeneity of variance was checked with Levine's test. The precondition of homogeneity of regression coefficients for the analysis of covariance of mindfulness was checked by measuring the interaction effect of the pre-test with the group, and a significance level greater than 0.05 was obtained for all components except non-judgment. In the second covariance analysis, this interaction effect for both compromised and non-compromised strategies had a significance level higher than 0.05, which shows the confirmation of this hypothesis. For the variables of mindfulness and cognitive emotion regulation strategies, the significance of Wilks's lambda test from multivariate tests showed that written emotional disclosure had a significant effect on at least one of the dependent variables. The results of univariate covariance analysis to determine the effectiveness of written emotional disclosure on the components and the total score of mindfulness and emotion regulation strategies show the positive effect of this method on mindfulness and emotion regulation strategies in students. Discussion and Conclusion Examining the effect of written emotional disclosure on the students' mindfulness showed that this method had an effect on increasing the mindfulness scores of the post-test compared to the pre-test. The results of this research are in line with the study of Moore and Brody (2009), which states that emotional self-disclosure in writing improves people's mindfulness skills. The study of the effect of written emotional disclosure on the cognitive regulation strategies of emotion in students showed that this method had an effect on increasing the scores of compromised post-test strategies compared to the pre-test scores and decreasing the scores of non-compromised post-test strategies compared to the pre-test scores. The results of this research are in line with Cetinkaya's (2020) study, which states that written emotional self-disclosure is a very effective coping strategy to deal with negative emotions and reduce them. Niederhoffer and Pennebaker (2002) state that keeping information in front of you causes a lot of mental tension and pressure and as a result requires a lot of effort, so disclosing this information reduces this mental pressure. Writing about emotional and emotional issues has a great impact on physical and mental health. In general, considering the effectiveness of written emotional disclosure in increasing mindfulness and the use of compromised strategies and reducing the use of non-compromised strategies of cognitive regulation of emotion in students, it can be said that using this method along with other existing methods improves the psychological condition of students. Therefore, considering the importance of students in various scientific, social, cultural, economic and political mechanisms of the society, counselors and psychologists can use this method as a practical and effective method. Since the sample group studied were students, therefore, the generalization of the results to other sample groups such as people with different education levels and different age groups is problematic. Therefore, it is suggested that the current research be tested on other demographic samples, such as different education levels, and the effect of gender and its moderating role and the effect of other demographic variables on dependent variables are investigated. Also, the effectiveness of written emotional disclosure on improving the performance of other psychological variables should be tested.

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