Relationships among Personal Life Stories, Vicarious Life Stories about Mothers and Fathers, and Well-being

Thomsen, Dorthe Kirkegaard; Vedel, Anna

doi:10.1080/15283488.2019.1635476

Cited by 14 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Our finding that writing about the vicarious life stories of parents carry benefits for self-esteem, similar to that of writing about personal life stories, is broadly consistent with the idea that making meaning through story construction (be they the author's own or those of close others) fosters psychological adjustment (McAdams, 2013). The studies extend previous literature on vicarious and intergenerational stories, which have shown that story characteristics relate to well-being (Harake et al, 2020b;Merrill & Fivush, 2016;Thomsen & Vedel, 2019). The important difference between the previous and the present studies is that we examined effects of the narration process rather than particular thematic and structural features of narratives, in relation to psychological adjustment.…”

Section: Narrating Close Others' Lives Brings Psychological Advantagessupporting

confidence: 86%

“…For example, redemption (present when a story begins negatively and ends positively; McAdams et al, 2001) corresponds concurrently with mental health (Dunlop, 2021). Mirroring this research, studies demonstrate that the structure and content of vicarious stories relate to well-being (Harake et al, 2020b;Merrill & Fivush, 2016;Thomsen & Vedel, 2019). For example, Lind and Thomsen (2018) found that more positive meaning in vicarious life stories for parents was related to more healthy identity, including a sense of being whole and certain about oneself.…”

Section: Assessment Intervention or Both?mentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Vicarious life stories may also provide scaffolding for personal life stories (McLean, 2015;Reese et al, 2017;Thomsen & Vedel, 2019). For example, considering the life stories of parents may provide adult children with impetus for shaping their personal life stories in ways that both parallel and diverge from parents' narratives (e.g., "knowing the story of how my mother struggled with her first job but now values this experience, makes me think that I will someday look back differently on my current job problems").…”

Section: Capturing the Stories Of Close Others' Livesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Authoring esteem: Writing about vicarious and personal life story chapters boosts state self-esteem

2021

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Constructing personal life stories carries benefits for psychological adjustment. We examined whether writing about the life stories of parents (i.e., vicarious life stories) hold similar advantages. In Study 1, we adapted an established experimental paradigm to an online format. Participants wrote either about personal life story chapters or about famous persons (control condition) and completed pre- and post-measures of state self-esteem. We found the predicted interaction as self-esteem increased in the chapter but not in the control condition. In Studies 2 and 3, we added the critical condition of writing about vicarious chapters. Study 2 did not find the predicted interaction. Instead, all three conditions increased in self-esteem. Study 3, which used a new neutral control task (writing about historical events), showed that the two chapter conditions, but not the control condition, increased in self-esteem. This suggests that authoring life stories for both oneself and close others momentarily boosts self-esteem.

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Section: Narrating Close Others' Lives Brings Psychological Advantagessupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Assessment Intervention or Both?mentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Capturing the Stories Of Close Others' Livesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Authoring esteem: Writing about vicarious and personal life story chapters boosts state self-esteem

2021

Self Cite

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“…The ecological systems model of family narratives (Figure 1, Fivush & Merrill, 2016, p. 308) places autobiographical memory at the core of this ecological system, at all points interacting with shared family narratives, intergenerational narratives, and cultural history, to create an identity that is embedded within specific sociocultural contexts. Intergenerational narratives may play a particularly significant role in adolescent identity development in at least two ways (Fivush, Bohanek, & Duke, 2008; Fivush, Bohanek, & Zaman, 2011; Thomsen & Vedel, 2019; Zaman & Fivush, 2013).…”

Section: Intergenerational Narratives Identity Development and Culturementioning

confidence: 99%

Mother, father, and I: A cross-cultural investigation of adolescents’ intergenerational narratives and well-being.

Chen

Cullen

Fıvush

et al. 2021

Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition

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Cultural differences in autobiographical memories are linked to differences in self-understanding and well-being. This study investigated how vicarious memories of family events, expressed in intergenerational narratives, are also important for well-being. New Zealand adolescents (N = 263) from three cultural groups (Chinese, Māori, and European; 12-21 years) told narratives about their mothers' and fathers' childhood. Narratives were coded for event valence, topic, thematic coherence, subjective perspective, relationships, and identity connections. Regardless of culture and age, adolescents' self-esteem was uniquely related to using subjective perspective terms in mothers' stories, and to telling thematically coherent fathers' stories, controlling for personality traits and personal narratives. However, the links to well-being were not always positive for New Zealand Māori and European adolescents, possibly due to the unique cultural-historical context in which these narratives were situated. Further research using both quantitative and qualitative methods could shed light on the delicate relationship between intergenerational narratives and adolescent development.

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“…It is also possible that there are shared Western values. For example, in Denmark, part of Scandinavia, people who rated vicarious life stories of themselves, mothers, and fathers in a more positive way displayed higher well-being (Thomsen & Vedel, 2019). Further, it might be that with increasing globalization Sweden has become more influenced by American ways of narration.…”

Section: Narrating Difficult Experiences In Sweden and Connections Tomentioning

confidence: 99%

Ta Det Onda Med Det Goda (Accepting the Bad that Comes with the Good) - A Cultural Framework for Identity Narratives of Difficult Experiences in Sweden

2020

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This study investigates the nature of narrating experiences of difficult life events among Swedish young adults. We use the master narrative cultural framework to understand how narratives of difficult experiences are told. Building on extant work on the importance of the narration of difficult life events for identity and wellbeing, we examine how these stories are narrated in the Swedish context in relation to well-being. Identity narratives about life challenges were collected from 116 participants (M age = 33.28, SD = .54, n = 58 women). Employing an open-exploratory approach, four equally prevalent emotional sequences were found: redemptive sequencing, neutral/vague sequencing, a combination of positive and negative sequencing, and negative sequencing. No differences were found in the use of the first three emotional sequences for well-being, but the negative sequencing was generally associated with poorer well-being. This study shows that there are several ways to narrate difficult experiences in the Swedish context, and sheds light on how culture informs narrative identity.

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Relationships among Personal Life Stories, Vicarious Life Stories about Mothers and Fathers, and Well-being

Cited by 14 publications

References 36 publications

Authoring esteem: Writing about vicarious and personal life story chapters boosts state self-esteem

Authoring esteem: Writing about vicarious and personal life story chapters boosts state self-esteem

Mother, father, and I: A cross-cultural investigation of adolescents’ intergenerational narratives and well-being.

Ta Det Onda Med Det Goda (Accepting the Bad that Comes with the Good) - A Cultural Framework for Identity Narratives of Difficult Experiences in Sweden

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