Low self-esteem is a risk factor for a broad range of psychological and behavioral problems (Emler, 2001). Expressive writing reduces intrusive and avoidant thoughts about negative events and improves working memory. These improvements may in turn free up cognitive resources for other mental activities, including our ability to cope more effectively with stress (Carpenter, 2001). This study will seek to show how playwrighting, a form of expressive writing, influences self-esteem, as well as writing ability.

The research design is a pretest-posttest control group design. Campbell and Stanley (1963) consider this design one of the three true experimental designs. The instrument used to measure self-esteem is the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale II. The instrument used to measure writing ability is 'number of words written, in response to a topic'.

Analyses indicate that on some but not all self-concept scales, this intervention appeared to positively influence self-esteem. Some effects were also observed in measures of students' writing ability.