Dr. Pennebaker was most interested in students' emotional adjustment to college. He wondered whether students' emotional adjustment influences their grades and health.

Pennebaker has conducted many research studies on a diverse range of psychological topics, such as religious conversion, lie detection, traumatic experiences, psychosomatic problems, and reasons for why therapy seems to work. As he put together his findings from these topics, a theme emerged. Pennebaker noticed that people who experience traumas often have later health problems. He also noted that people often felt better after they revealed secrets (such as emotional traumas) in confessions, lie detection, and therapy.

Based on his personal experiences conducting research and reading the psychological literature, Pennebaker developed the following research question:

If students express their emotional feelings about adjusting to college, will they be healthier and do better in school?

To learn more about emotional disclosure research, you may enjoy Dr. Pennebaker's highly readable and popular book:

Pennebaker, J. W. (1997). Opening up: The healing power of expressing emotion. New York: Guilford.

Searching the Psychological Literature