Writing about life story chapters increases self-esteem: Three experimental studies.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the present three studies was to examine experimentally whether writing about life story chapters would increase self-esteem, self-concept clarity, and meaning.

METHOD: In study 1, 179 participants rated state self-esteem and self-concept clarity before and after they described either four important life story chapters or four famous Americans. In study 2, 141 new participants completed a similar procedure to study 1 and then returned two days later to complete the procedure a second time. In study 3, 101 community dwelling adults completed a similar procedure to study 1, but responded to full scales measuring self-concept clarity, self-esteem, and mood.

RESULTS: In all the studies, writing about four important life story chapters increased the ratings of self-esteem, whereas writing about four famous Americans did not.

CONCLUSION: The studies show that writing about chapters in life stories can increase self-esteem and suggest that constructing positive self-worth may be an important function of life stories.