Storytelling, Self, Society

Storytelling, Self, Society, Vol. 10, No. 2 (2014), pp. 177–193. Copyright © 2015 by Wayne State University Press, Detroit, MI 48201 Testing a Digital Storytelling Intervention to Reduce Stress in Adolescent Females Rhonda Goodman and David Newman Female adolescents are typically exposed to high levels of stress, which may lead to such psychological challenges as anger, anxiety, and depression. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of oral versus digital storytelling as interventions to reduce the emotional health consequences of female adolescent stress, anger, anxiety, and depression. The study was conducted with two groups of ninth-grade females and two groups of twelfth-grade females randomly assigned to either oral or digital storytelling groups. Ninth-graders reported a greater drop in stress and depression without controlling for type of storytelling. There was a greater decrease in anxiety and anger in the digital storytelling groups without controlling for grade level. Jenny’s Story After three tumultuous years in middle school, Jenny finally began high school. Unfortunately, she found the same feelings surfaced that she had in middle school. She did not belong. She felt fat. In every class, she sat in the back corner, hoping not to be recognized or called upon. The homework was overwhelming. Lunchtime was embarrassing, as she always sat alone, far from the supposedly happy 178 n Testing a Digital Storytelling Intervention students. At home, her parents were fighting, and her dad finally moved out to start a “replacement” family with his new girlfriend. Jenny was given the opportunity to talk about all the things that made her feel stressed. She wrote down her feelings in story form and recorded her story into a computer. At our request, Jenny brought in pictures that metaphorically represented her feelings and chose a background song to play during her story, whichwasnowdigitalized.SheburnedherstorytoaDVDandtookittoherfather. Theysattogethersidebysideandwatchedthefiveminute-longdigitalstory.When it ended, her father looked at her with tears in his eyes, placed his hand on her arm, and said, “I get it now.” Jenny had never felt so validated, knowing that her father finally understood her feelings. Through this storytelling method, Jenny was able to tell her father a story in a third-person format, which she could not have told him in a face-to-face confrontation. Jenny’s story is not an isolated example of adolescent angst; unfortunately, it is a common phenomenon among those who share her age and gender (Byrne and Mazanov, “Sources”). The purpose of our research was to determine the efficacy of different types of storytelling in combatting feelings of stress, anxiety, anger, and depression experienced by adolescent females. Of specific interest are the different effects of oral and digital storytelling on girls just entering high school and those on the verge of graduating. This study gave ninth- and twelfthgrade females the opportunity to tell their stories, either orally or digitally (on computers). We used several instruments pre- and post-intervention to measure theirfeelingsofstress,anxiety,anger,anddepression,andwestudiedandanalyzed the differences between the effects of oral and digital storytelling, as well as the differences across grade levels. Adolescent Stressors Stress is an inevitable reality of life. As a result, adolescents, who are typically exposed to high rates of stress, are prone to develop psychological challenges such as depression, anger, and anxiety (Grant et al.; Moksnes et al.; Murray, Byrne, and Rieger). Female adolescents experience and report greater stress than do their male counterparts, in part because they are greatly influenced by friends, social media, and societal expectations (Byrne and Mazanov, “Sources”; Goodman and Newman n 179 Zimmer-Gembeck and Skinner). Because many of these expectations are unrealistic , they cause high levels of stress for adolescent females (Pipher). A major concern for adolescents is suicide, which is the third leading cause of death for adolescents in the United States, and the incidence increases yearly as children age (Pirrucello). Depression contributes to the increased risk of adolescent suicide, and females experience depression more often than males (Bhasin, Sharma, and Saini). While males complete suicide more often, adolescent females attempt suicide more frequently (Parker et al.), escalating the possibility of self-injury. Adolescent females also self-injure more frequently than males (Conterio and Lader; Madge...