Ta Det Onda Med Det Goda [Taking the Bad With the Good] - A Cultural Framework for Identity Narratives of Difficult Experiences in Sweden

Abstract

This study investigates the nature of narrating experiences of difficult life events among Swedish young adults. In doing so, we address a cultural framework for telling identity narratives of difficult experiences. 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, and relations between patterns of narration and 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 structures were found: redemptive structure, neutral/vague structure, combination of positive and negative structure, and negative structure. No differences were found in the use of the first three structures for well-being, but the negative structure was generally associated with poorer well-being. This study shows that there are several ways to narrate challenges in the Swedish context, and it sheds light on the ways in which culture informs the narrative identity.

Moving Beyond Redemptive Magnitude: Examining Redemptive Forms and Themes in Young Adults’ Narratives of Difficult Life Experiences

“…Further, neutral/vague sequencing is comparable to, though not coterminous with, our definition of "return". Eriksson et al (2020) found that redemptive sequences (in our scheme, similar to emergent) evinced greater scores on a growth coding scheme than neutral/vague sequences (in our scheme, similar to return).…”

“…A recent study provides the most direct evidence for the association between narrated growth and redemptive forms. In a sample of Swedish young adults, Eriksson et al (2020) investigated four affective sequences (redemptive, neutral/vague, negative, and combination positive and negative) in narratives of difficult life events. In this study, redemptive sequences were defined as "narratives with a positive state of emotions to frame the difficult experience, such as ending with positive growth or increased understanding of the event", p. 163).…”

“…Redemption has demonstrated robust positive ties to PWB and related constructs (life satisfaction) among young adults (Cox et al, 2019;Eriksson et al, 2020;Liao et al, 2015;McAdams et al, 2001;Philippe et al, 2011). However, such trends are not without qualification, depending on factors such as age (McLean & Lilgendahl, 2008), the PWB dimension in question (Grossbaum & Bates, 2002;McLean & Lilgendahl, 2008), and gender (McLean & Breen, 2009).…”

“…While no research has examined the relation between PWB and the exact redemptive forms we articulate here, growth expressed in low point narratives appears to predict PWB beyond redemption (Bauer et al, 2019). 1 Additionally, Eriksson et al (2020) examined multiple affective sequences as they related to satisfaction with life (SWL). In this study, redemptive sequences (in our scheme, similar to emergent) evinced greater SWL than purely negative sequencing, yet it did not show greater SWL than neutral/vague (in our scheme, similar to return) or combination sequencing.…”

“…Forms of redemption (relative to non-redemptive narration) should be positively associated with other dimensions of narrative identity that reflect personal identity development, such as motivations for agentic actions as well as autobiographical reasoning (i.e., drawing links between experiences and the self; Habermas & Bluck, 2000). Further, emergent redemption should be associated with higher levels of life story integration and narrative framing around the self, reflecting themes of autobiographical reasoning and agentic motivation (Eriksson et al, 2020;Reese et al, 2017). Therefore, we hypothesized that: (H2a) non-redemptive individuals would have the lowest scores on other narrative identity themes; (H2b) return redemption would be associated moderate scores on narrative identity themes; and (H2c) emergent redemption would be associated with the highest scores on narrative identity themes.…”