Characterizing lifespan development of three aspects of coherence in life narratives: A cohort-sequential study.

Abstract

The ability to narrate stories and a synchronic self-concept develop in the pre- and primary school years. Life story theory proposes that both developments extend to an even later developmental stage, that is, to adolescents' acquisition of a coherent life story. Cross-sectional evidence supports the emergence of a life story in adolescence, but is mixed in terms of later life span development. The present study examines longitudinally the development of global coherence in life narratives across almost the entire life span. Starting in 2003, a total of 172 participants narrated their lives over the course of 8 years (aged 16, 20, 24, 28, 44, and 69 when last tested) resulting in up to 4 life narratives per person. Three aspects of global life narrative coherence--temporal, causal-motivational, and thematic coherence--were measured with global ratings and predicted by their respective textual indicators. Children lacked most aspects of global coherence. Almost all indicators of temporal and causal-motivational coherence increased substantially across adolescence up to early adulthood, as did thematic coherence, which continued to develop throughout middle adulthood.

Getting a Life Takes Time: The Development of the Life Story in Adolescence, Its Precursors and Consequences

“…Only at age 16 did a majority provide implicit thematic coherence, whereas over half of the participants from middle adulthood onwards provided explicit thematic coherence [Köber et al, 2015]. Habermas/Reese Köber et al [2015]. b 1 -3: Less than half of events are temporally located; 4: half of the events are temporally located; 5 -7: more than half of the events are temporally located.…”

“…At age 8, thematic coherence was absent in 81% of children and only implicit in the remaining 19%. Only at age 16 did a majority provide implicit thematic coherence, whereas over half of the participants from middle adulthood onwards provided explicit thematic coherence [Köber et al, 2015]. Habermas/Reese Köber et al [2015].…”

“…To better describe the lower threshold of the development of the life story than is possible with mean values for age groups, table 3 lists the absolute frequencies of participants of the youngest cohort of the Frankfurt longitudinal study MainLife [cf. Köber et al, 2015], who used each autobiographical argument at least once. There is a drastic increase in the use of autobiographical arguments between ages 8 and 16 for the same individuals over time.…”

“…Habermas & de Silveira, 2008;Habermas, Diel, & Welzer, 2013;Habermas, Ehlert-Lerche, & de Silveira, 2009; for the longitudinal confirmation, cf. Köber et al, 2015]. Entire life narratives in written form have been collected in two Danish samples with ages 9, 11, and 14 [Bohn & Berntsen, 2008] and with ages 10, 12, 13, and 15 [Bohn & Berntsen, 2013].…”

“…In life narratives, they contribute to global coherence [Köber, Schmiedek, & Habermas, 2015]. In single event narratives, corresponding to single memories, they serve to integrate these into the larger context of a life by relating them to more enduring aspects of oneself or to other, distant events (see dashed lines in fig.…”