Title of Research Project:
Health Benefits of Telling your Life Story
Research Description:
There is strong empirical support that telling aspects of oneÉ??s life story has positive emotional and physical health effects. Surprisingly, no research has been conducted on the effects of telling a life story. This two-part (cross-sectional and longitudinal) project will 1) assess the physiological correlates (i.e., stress indicators from galvanic skin responses during challenging and non-challenging parts of the life story, and 2) assess physical and emotional health effects of telling a life story over a 3-month period. The focus of the project is examining the psychological and physical effects of telling a life story. We will use longitudinal and cross-sectional research designs. This study will lay the groundwork for a federal grant application to tests long term effects of telling a life story.