(PS10-17) Exploring meaning making in negative mood induction writing samples

Global meaning (GM) refers to an individual’s system of beliefs (i.e., core schemas through which they interpret the world), goals (i.e., states that they desire to achieve or maintain), and subjective sense of meaning (i.e., their overall sense of purpose). Traumatic experiences disturb GM by violating beliefs (e.g., fairness) and goals (e.g., a future with loved ones), and can lead to feelings of purposelessness. Meaning making (MM) refers to the process by which individuals interpret, make sense of, or find significance in life events. MM and reappraisal following a traumatic event can restore violated GM. The current study examined the impact of MM and appraisal on affect, arousal, and momentary distress intolerance (MDI) following a negative mood induction in which participants were prompted to write about a stressful event (43% criterion A trauma). Data collection was completed in the lab. Participants (n = 106; 52% women; M_age = 24.8; 73.6% White/non-Hispanic) completed measures of affective valence (AV) and affective arousal (AA), followed by a 10-minute mood induction, then completed measures of AV, AA, and MDI. A qualitative codebook was developed using empirically derived codes to explore MM language in transcripts from the negative mood induction (Grace et al., 2018; Lim et al., 2015). Codes included negative or positive affective expressions, reflections, expressing concern, blame, justification, appraisals, and expressing difficulty finding meaning. Qualitative analyses revealed that 95% of participants used language when describing the stressful event that reflected at least one of these codes, and 17% used at least one type of appraisal (e.g., positive reappraisal, spirituality, and negative/neutral appraisal). T-tests comparing mean difference in affective valence and arousal (post - pre negative mood induction) based on whether each code was present vs. absent in the writing sample indicated that expressions of past negative affect (e.g., “I felt sad, frustrated, and lonely”; t(6) = -2.75, p = 0.03), and difficulty finding meaning in the event (e.g., “I couldn’t properly get over the grief then and I still can’t now”; t(7) =  -2.98, p = 0.02) were related to significant increases in AA. AV increased among participants whose writing demonstrated reflecting on happy memories (e.g., “we pretty much grew up together and were more like brothers”; t(16) = -2.22, p </em>= 0.04). T-tests comparing momentary distress intolerance after negative mood induction indicated that both past negative affect, t(27) = 8.35, p < .001, and current difficulty finding meaning, t(4) = 4.02, p = 0.02, were associated with increased MDI. Participants who used negative affective language and conveyed difficulty MM regarding a stressful event experienced the greatest increase in AA and difficulty tolerating distress. Conversely, reflecting on happy memories connected to a stressful event could serve as a buffer to a negative mood induction. The present findings provide partial support for MM theories and suggest that MM and reappraisal may be useful for reducing negative affect and improving distress tolerance in individuals struggling to process difficult experiences. This may have implications for treatments targeting trauma and restoring GM.