TY - JOUR
T1 - The autobiographical author through time
T2 - Examining the degree of stability and change in redemptive and contaminated personal narratives
AU - Dunlop, William L.
AU - Guo, Jen
AU - McAdams, Dan P.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2016.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2016/7
Y1 - 2016/7
N2 - We examined continuity and change in the tendencies to construct a life story (i.e., narrative identity) that was redemptive or contaminated in nature. In Study 1, college freshmen and seniors wrote accounts of several autobiographical key scenes pertinent to narrative identity twice over a 3-year period. In Study 2, midlife adults provided, via a semistructured interview, key scenes twice over a 5-year period and also indicated whether their employment status had changed between assessments. Across studies, the rank-order consistency of redemptive and contaminated stories was moderate and low to moderate, respectively. In Study 1, the frequency of redemptive and contaminated stories increased throughout college. Furthermore, the frequency of contaminated stories decreased following graduation. In Study 2, changes in employment status corresponded with reduced redemptive imagery. These results suggest a possible narrative acculturation of young adults as well as a correspondence between changes in life circumstances and narrative identity.
AB - We examined continuity and change in the tendencies to construct a life story (i.e., narrative identity) that was redemptive or contaminated in nature. In Study 1, college freshmen and seniors wrote accounts of several autobiographical key scenes pertinent to narrative identity twice over a 3-year period. In Study 2, midlife adults provided, via a semistructured interview, key scenes twice over a 5-year period and also indicated whether their employment status had changed between assessments. Across studies, the rank-order consistency of redemptive and contaminated stories was moderate and low to moderate, respectively. In Study 1, the frequency of redemptive and contaminated stories increased throughout college. Furthermore, the frequency of contaminated stories decreased following graduation. In Study 2, changes in employment status corresponded with reduced redemptive imagery. These results suggest a possible narrative acculturation of young adults as well as a correspondence between changes in life circumstances and narrative identity.
KW - Contaminated sequences
KW - Longitudinal
KW - Narrative identity
KW - Personality development
KW - Redemptive sequence
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U2 - 10.1177/1948550616644654
DO - 10.1177/1948550616644654
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85007524130
VL - 7
SP - 428
EP - 436
JO - Social Psychological and Personality Science
JF - Social Psychological and Personality Science
SN - 1948-5506
IS - 5
ER -