ANDERSON ET AL. PRIVATE AND INTERPERSONAL EMOTIONAL DISCLOSURE THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL SKILLS ON PRIVATE AND INTERPERSONAL EMOTIONAL DISCLOSURE OF NEGATIVE EVENTS TIMOTHY ANDERSON, KIMI L. CARSON, AND ANDREW J. DARCHUK Ohio University FRANCIS J. KEEFE Duke University This study examined the influence of social skills on emotional disclosure in pri- vate and interpersonal settings. Eighty–five women with either high or low social skills disclosed an emotionally painful event in private (i.e., to a tape recorder) or to another participant with either high or low social skills (interpersonal condition). Increases in negative affect were greatest when disclosure was in the private (vs. in- terpersonal) condition and also when the discloser had high social skill (vs. low so- cial skill). Interestingly, increases in positive affect were greatest in the interpersonal condition where both discloser and facilitator had high social skills. However, these facilitators themselves experienced decreases in their positive af- fect. The authors propose that an interactive transfer of positive affect between in- dividuals of high social skills can provide an interpersonal interaction conducive to self–disclosure. It has been established that emotional disclosure is beneficial (e.g., Hughes, Uhlmann, & Pennebaker, 1994; Petrie, Booth, Pennebaker, Davison, & Thomas, 1995) and that activation (disinhibition) of negative affect may contribute to these benefits (Gross & Levenson, 1993; Pennebaker, Colder, & Sharp, 1990). Little research, however has exam- ined the conditions under which emotional disclosure is facilitated or 635 Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, Vol. 23, No. 5, 2004, pp. 635-652 Preparation of this article was supported in part by the Fetzer Institute and by a grant from the Arthritis Foundation. We wish to thank Trevor Kunkle, Melissa Prickett, Chris Bailey, Melissa Lander, Michelle Budzik, Josh White, Elizabeth Lopez, and Laura Fox for their assistance in conducting this study. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Timothy Anderson, De- partment of Psychology, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 45701; E-mail: andersot@ohiou.edu.