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Abstract
ABSTRACT: Anxiety constitutes an emotional response to perceived threats that impacts the physiological, cognitive, and behavioral aspects of elementary school students. If left unaddressed, excessive anxiety may impede children’s learning processes and socio-emotional development. Grounded in Pennebaker’s theory, which posits that processing emotional experiences through writing reduces physiological activation, this study examined the effectiveness of an expressive writing intervention in alleviating anxiety among students in Yogyakarta. Employing a quantitative pre-experimental one-group pretest–posttest design, the study involved a four-day intervention. Fourteen fifth-grade students exhibiting moderate-to-high anxiety were selected via purposive sampling, with data collected using the Indonesian version of the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS). Paired-sample t-test results indicated a significant 20.6% reduction in anxiety levels (p < 0.05). These findings confirm that expressive writing is an effective emotional regulation strategy for reducing anxiety in elementary school-aged children.
Keywords: Expressive writing; child anxiety; elementary school.
ABSTRAK: Kecemasan merupakan respons emosional terhadap ancaman yang dapat memengaruhi aspek fisiologis, kognitif, dan perilaku anak sekolah dasar. Jika tidak ditangani, kecemasan berlebih dapat menghambat proses belajar dan perkembangan sosial-emosional anak. Berdasarkan teori Pennebaker, pengalaman emosional melalui tulisan (menulis ekspresif) dapat menurunkan aktivasi fisiologis dan meningkatkan regulasi emosi. Penelitian ini bertujuan menguji efektivitas intervensi menulis ekspresif dalam menurunkan tingkat kecemasan siswa sekolah dasar di Yogyakarta. Penelitian menggunakan pendekatan kuantitatif dengan desain pre-experimental one-group pretest–posttest design dengan intervensi selama empat hari. Sebanyak 14 siswa kelas V yang memiliki skor kecemasan sedang hingga tinggi dipilih melalui teknik purposive. Instrumen yang digunakan adalah Skala Kecemasan Anak Spence (SCAS) versi terjemahan Indonesia. Hasil uji paired-sample t-test menunjukkan penurunan tingkat kecemasan secara signifikan sebesar 20.6% (p < .05). Temuan ini mengonfirmasi bahwa intervensi menulis ekspresif efektif sebagai strategi regulasi emosi untuk menurunkan kecemasan pada anak usia sekolah dasar.
Kata kunci: menulis ekspresif; kecemasan anak; sekolah dasar.
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