Narrative Development in Adolescence (eBook)

Kate C. McLean is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto. She completed her Ph.D in Developmental Psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2004.Monisha Pasupathi is an associate professor of developmental psychology in the Department of Psychology at the University of Utah. She completed her Ph.D. in Personality Psychology at Stanford University in 1997, and subsequently served as a post-doctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, Germany, until 1999.

Acknowledgments 6
Contents 7
Contributor Bios 9
Contributors 14
Introduction 16
Where Have You Been, Where Are You Going? Narrative Identity in Adolescence 16
What Does Identity Have to Do with Positive Youth Development? 17
Why a Narrative Approach to Identity Development? 18
What We Know: Narrative Identity in Early Childhood and Across Adulthood 19
Why We Need to Better Understand Narrative Identity in Adolescence 21
The Present Volume 22
What Develops in Adolescence, and How Is That Development Linked to Other Aspects of Self? 22
What Are the Contexts of Adolescent Narrative Identity Development? 24
Where Should We Go from Here? Emerging Themes and Issues 24
References 28
Self-Continuity Across Developmental Change in and of Repeated Life Narratives 31
Continuity and Change as Represented in Life Narratives 32
The Development of the Self-Concept and Narrative Development 34
Continuity and Change of Life Narratives 35
Exploring Eight Adolescents' Life Narratives 36
The Study 36
Stability of Selected Life Events Across Tellings 38
Segments Re-narrated After 4 Years 39
Shift of Focus and Perspective in Hidden Re-narrations 44
New Segments from the Old Life -- Hindsight or Reflections in Retrospect 47
Segments That Are Not Re-narrated and New Segments: Age-Specific Themes in Life Narratives 49
Conclusion 49
References 50
Emerging Identities: Narrative and Self from Early Childhood to Early Adolescence 52
The Development of Personal Narratives from Early Childhood 54
Personal Narratives and Self-Concept in Childhood 58
Study 1: A Subjective Perspective in Adolescence as a Function of MotherChild Reminiscing in Early Childhood 59
Study 2: The Emerging Life Story and Well-Being in Early Adolescence 63
Implications 68
References 69
Patterns of Family Narrative Co-construction in Relation to Adolescent Identity and Well-Being 73
Narratives and Identity 74
Early ParentChild Reminiscing 76
The Family Narratives Project 77
The Family as a Unit 79
Family Reminiscing Style 79
Family Reminiscing About Emotion 81
Family Reminiscing as a Gendered Activity 82
Parental Reminiscing Style 82
Parental Emotional Content 83
Summary of Family Narratives 85
Conclusions and Implications 86
References 87
Autonomy, Identity, and Narrative Construction with Parents and Friends 92
Choosing Classes 92
Processes of Identity and Autonomy Formation Are Linked in Adolescence 94
Identity and Autonomy in Conversational Storytelling 96
Identity and Conversational Remembering 96
Autonomy and Conversational Storytelling 97
Fivush's Model of Voice and Silence 98
The Artist 99
Trying Alcohol 101
College Choice 103
What About with Friends? 105
The Angry Young Man 109
Summary and Conclusions 113
References 115
What He Said to Me Stuck: Adolescents' Narratives of Grandparents and Their Identity Development in Emerging Adulthood 119
Grandparenting and Storytelling in the Three-Generational Family 120
Stories of Grandparent Value Teaching by Adolescents 122
Grandparenting and Adolescent Identity Formation 125
Interpretations and Conclusions 131
References 135
Life Stories of Troubled Youth: Meanings for a Mentor and a Scholarly Stranger 139
Suzannes Story: Transformation 141
Jane's Proximal Analysis 141
Avril's Distal Analysis 143
Comparison of Our Perspectives on Suzanne's Story 147
Jeffs Story: Welcome to My Life 147
Jane's Proximal Analysis 147
Avril's Distal Analysis 149
Comparison of Our Perspectives on Jeff's Story 150
Near and Distant Views of Life Stories 151
Postscript 153
References 153
Re-storying the Lives of At-Risk Youth: A Case Study Approach 156
At-Risk Youth 157
At-Risk Youth and the Self 158
Self and the Life Story 158
Life Stories of At-Risk Youth 159
Case Studies 162
Future Goals and Feared Futures 162
Stories of Vulnerability 163
Emerging Stories of Resilience 164
Changing Stories 165
Applying Latent Semantic Analysis to Changing Stories 166
Discussion and Conclusion 170
References 172
Constructing Resilience: Adolescent Motherhood and the Process of Self-Transformation 175
Self-Identity and Resilience in Adolescence 177
Exploring Personal Narratives of Young Mothers with Histories of Antisocial Behavior 179
Tamara 181
Jasmine 184
Implications for the Study of Narrative Identity in Adolescence 188
References 190
Negotiating the Meanings of Adolescent Motherhood Through the Medium of Identity Collages 193
Negotiating the Meanings of Adolescent Motherhood 193
The Art Project 194
Recruiting Participants 195
Creating Collages 196
Portraits 197
Mandisa 197
Sakina 199
Jasira 200
Jeanine 202
Negotiating Between the Personal and Canonical 203
Between Sexual Experience and Safe Sex 203
Between Collecting Babydads and Marrying Fathers 204
Conclusion 206
References 207
How Violent Youth Offenders and Typically Developing Adolescents Construct Moral Agency in Narratives About Doing Harm 208
Knowing Wrong and Doing Wrong 209
Adolescents Speak About Having Harmed Others 211
The Language of Mental Experience 212
The Contents of Their Experience 214
The Landscape of Action 215
The Landscape of Consciousness 218
Implicit Psychological Concepts 219
Conclusions 223
References 227
Critical Narrating by Adolescents Growing Up in War: Case Study Across the Former Yugoslavia 230
Development in Crisis 232
Developing Narrative Theory 233
Integrating Cultural-Historical Narratives of Post-war Contexts 236
Methodological Approach for Narrating Development 239
Narrative Database and Analyses 241
Hypothetical Community Narrative Activity Captures International Youth Imagination 243
Autobiographical Narrative Activities Engage Diverse Psychosocial Processes 245
Diverse Orientations Across Contexts 249
Communicative Complexity Is a Narrative Development Process 251
References 252
Index 254