Major
Psychology
Anticipated Graduation Year
2026
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) has been found to be effective for improving the anxiety and depression symptoms of college students, but little is known about the therapeutic mechanisms behind IPT nor for whom IPT does not work. Language style matching (LSM), given its associations with interpersonal relationships and psychological wellbeing, may further inform IPT mechanisms and serve as a tool to predict intervention outcomes. Using data from an IPT group for college students, the present study explored how participant LSM relates to anxiety, depression, and group cohesion. Group psychotherapy transcripts of participants (N = 9) were analyzed using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count for One-to-Many, Person-Level LSM. Correlational analyses, a random sample t-test, and simple linear regressions revealed no significant findings. Effect sizes, however, suggest meaningful relationships between LSM and psychological wellbeing. Though results need to be interpreted with caution, LSM shows potential for predicting group psychotherapy outcomes and tailoring treatments.
Faculty Mentors & Instructors
Colleen Conley, Professor, Department of Psychology
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Language Style Matching (LSM) and Group Cohesion: Exploring Mechanisms Behind Psychological Wellbeing in Interpersonal Psychotherapy for College Students (IPT-CS)
Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) has been found to be effective for improving the anxiety and depression symptoms of college students, but little is known about the therapeutic mechanisms behind IPT nor for whom IPT does not work. Language style matching (LSM), given its associations with interpersonal relationships and psychological wellbeing, may further inform IPT mechanisms and serve as a tool to predict intervention outcomes. Using data from an IPT group for college students, the present study explored how participant LSM relates to anxiety, depression, and group cohesion. Group psychotherapy transcripts of participants (N = 9) were analyzed using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count for One-to-Many, Person-Level LSM. Correlational analyses, a random sample t-test, and simple linear regressions revealed no significant findings. Effect sizes, however, suggest meaningful relationships between LSM and psychological wellbeing. Though results need to be interpreted with caution, LSM shows potential for predicting group psychotherapy outcomes and tailoring treatments.