scholarly journals Applying the Master Narrative Framework to Gender Identity in Emerging Adulthood

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate C. McLean ◽  
Hannah Shucard ◽  
Moin Syed
Keyword(s):  
Identity Development ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Personal Identity ◽  
Personal Narratives ◽  
Master Narrative ◽  
Identity Exploration ◽  
Discourse Processes ◽  
Content Domain ◽  
Narrative Framework ◽  
Cultural Components

We applied a novel framework to identity development, capturing both content and process, and personal and cultural components of identity in the content domain of gender. We examined master (and alternative) narratives: ubiquitous, powerful cultural stories with which individuals negotiate in constructing personal identity. Study 1 was a quantitative investigation of personal narratives about gender (n = 245); Study 2 was a qualitative study of discourse processes concerning gender roles (n = 12). Employing three approaches to identity development (status, narrative, and discursive) in a mixed methods-design, we found that most individuals position themselves around a newer, alternative narrative about gender equality. However, in social interactions this narrative got less airtime, in favor of narratives representing either traditional views, or gender equality. Further, those who were exploring their identities were more likely to employ the less traditional narrative, suggesting a link between changing master narratives and personal identity exploration.

scholarly journals Personal Identity Development in Cultural Context: The Socialization of Master Narratives about the Gendered Life Course

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate C. McLean ◽  
Samantha Boggs ◽  
Alexandra Lowe ◽  
Chelsea Fordham ◽  
Kristin Gudbjorg Haraldsson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Identity Development ◽  
Gender Identity ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Emerging Adults ◽  
Emerging Adult ◽  
Master Narrative ◽  
Master Narratives ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Personal Experiences

The present studies focused on the role and socialization of biographical master narratives – cultural narratives that prescribe the types and ordering of events that should occur in one’s personal life identity narrative – by focusing on adolescent and emerging adult gender identity development. We employed a combined explanatory and triangulation mixed methods design. Study 1a (n = 414) was a survey study examining the expected biographical master narrative events for men and women, and the content of master narrative deviation and conformity in an emerging adult sample. In Study 1b (n = 14) we interviewed participants from Study 1a about their conformity and deviation narratives, as well as their socialization experiences regarding gendered biographical master narratives. In Study 2 mothers and adolescents (n = 11 pairs), engaged in conversation about expected life course events, as well as a follow-up interview about their conversation. We first found that there are more gender differences in the personal experiences of conformity to and deviation from master narratives compared to the expectations of the life course (Study 1a). Second, deviating is related to more engagement in identity processes (Study 1a). Third, emerging adults report contradictions in retrospective reports of socialization messages regarding expectations (Study 1b), a finding confirmed in a discourse analysis of mothers and their adolescents (Study 2). Overall, across the studies, we see that 1) adolescents and emerging adults are engaged in a delicate balance of negotiating between various cultural and familial messages, as well as personal experiences, about gender identity particularly in regards to gender equality and, 2) there is a complex relation between socialization messages about gender equality that may make some biographical master narratives about the expected life course events for men and women more resistant to change.

scholarly journals Transnormativity and Transgender Identity Development: A Master Narrative Approach

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nova J. Bradford ◽  
Moin Syed
Keyword(s):  
Identity Development ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
The United States ◽  
Master Narrative ◽  
Transgender Identity ◽  
Trans People ◽  
Unique Identity ◽  
Qualitative Focus Groups ◽  
Narrative Framework

Despite rapidly shifting social dynamics and the recent increase in scholarship on transgender identity development, existing research on transgender identity has been theoretically isolated from the broader study of identity. This study involved a series of 4 qualitative focus groups (n = 15 participants), conducted in the United States, to identify master and alternative narratives guiding transgender identity development and explore the mechanisms by which transgender individuals navigate and negotiate with these narrative constraints. Results suggest that (a) transnormativity is best conceptualized as a hegemonic alternative narrative that resists the master narrative of cisnormativity, which asserts that cisgender identities are “normal” or “standard”; (b) the components of transnormativity go beyond those which have been previously described in the literature; (c) individuals negotiate with transnormativity through both resisting transnormativity and conceding to transnormativity; and (d) border wars within the trans community form on the basis of these opposing and contradictory processes of resisting and conceding. Results demonstrate the applicability of the Master Narrative framework for studying transgender identity development and the important role of master and alternative narratives of in shaping the lives and experiences of trans people. Psychotherapists can use these findings to engage clients in re-authoring conversations to affirm the legitimacy of clients’ unique identity experiences.

scholarly journals Personal, Master, and Alternative Narratives: An Integrative Framework for Understanding Identity Development in Context

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate C. McLean ◽  
Moin Syed
Keyword(s):  
Identity Development ◽  
Personal Identity ◽  
Master Narrative ◽  
Cultural Narratives ◽  
Master Narratives ◽  
Case Examples ◽  
Integrative Framework ◽  
Individual Agency ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Future Work

In this paper we propose a model for examining personal identity development that moves attention from a relatively exclusive examination of the individual, to an examination of the intersection between self and society. We propose that a master narrative model of identity development allows researchers to 1) align the study of culture and individual on the same metric of narrative, 2) investigate the processes of negotiating personal and cultural narratives, the latter of which are embedded within the structures of society, and 3) investigate the internalization of those structures in personal identities. In laying out this model we define a narrative approach to identity development, five principles for defining master narratives (ubiquity, utility, invisibility, rigidity, and their compulsory nature), three types of master narratives (life course, structural, and episodic), and case examples of each type. This model brings attention to the interaction between self and society, as well as to the constraints on individual agency to construct a personal identity. We conclude by raising questions that emerge out of this framework that we hope will inspire future work on the relation between self and society in the study of identity development.

Negotiating Emerging Adulthood With Master and Counter Narratives: Alcohol-Related Identity Trajectories Among Emerging Adults in Performance-Oriented Neoliberal Society

2021 ◽  
pp. 074355842110529
Author(s):  
Jukka Törrönen ◽  
Eva Samuelsson ◽  
Filip Roumeliotis ◽  
Josefin Månsson
Keyword(s):  
Identity Development ◽  
Emerging Adults ◽  
Heavy Drinking ◽  
Sociodemographic Factors ◽  
Master Narrative ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Positioning Analysis ◽  
Narrative Framework ◽  
Changes Over Time

This study analyzes how emerging adults negotiate their relation to alcohol in the context of declining youth drinking and how this relationship changes over time. The sample consists of longitudinal qualitative interview data ( N = 28) with 9 boys and 19 girls aged 15 to 21. The participants were recruited through schools, social media and non-governmental organizations from mainly the Stockholm region and smaller towns in central Sweden to reach a heterogeneous sample in terms of sociodemographic factors and drinking practices. We interviewed the participants in-depth three times between 2017 and 2019. Thematic coding of the whole data with NVivo helped us select four cases for more detailed analysis, as they represented the typical trajectories and showed the variation in the material. We used the master narrative framework and Bamberg’s narrative positioning analysis to examine the data. The analysis demonstrates what kinds of narrative alignments in identity development encourage heavy drinking, moderate alcohol consumption, and fuel abstinence. The results suggest that the decline in youth drinking is produced by a co-effect of multiple master narratives that intersect and guide the identity development away from heavy drinking.

scholarly journals Bringing Identity Content to the Fore: Links to Identity Development Processes

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate C. McLean ◽  
Moin Syed ◽  
Hannah Shucard
Keyword(s):  
Identity Development ◽  
Emerging Adults ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Identity Exploration ◽  
Family Identity ◽  
Family Romance ◽  
Identity Processes ◽  
College Going ◽  
Content Domain ◽  
Development Processes

In the present study we examined the role of identity content in relation to identity processes in a sample of college-going emerging adults (n = 255). Participants reported eight narratives each (n = 2040 narratives) in response to prompts for specific identity content domains (occupation, values, politics, religion, family, romance, friends, sex roles), and completed survey measures of identity exploration and commitment. Narratives were coded for content and meaning-making. In general, participants reported the content requested, but were less likely to do so in certain domains (e.g., religion) than others (e.g., family). Identity processes varied by content domain, suggesting that identity contents may require different forms of processing. Results reveal the importance of examining identity content for a fuller understanding of identity development.

scholarly journals Personal identity development in cultural context: The socialization of master narratives about the gendered life course

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 116-126
Author(s):  
Kate C. McLean ◽  
Samantha Boggs ◽  
Kristin Haraldsson ◽  
Alexandra Lowe ◽  
Chelsea Fordham ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Identity Development ◽  
Gender Identity ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Emerging Adults ◽  
Emerging Adult ◽  
Master Narrative ◽  
Master Narratives ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Personal Experiences

The present studies focused on the role and socialization of biographical master narratives – cultural narratives that prescribe the types and ordering of events that should occur in one’s personal life identity narrative – by focusing on adolescent and emerging adult gender identity development. We employed a combined explanatory and triangulation mixed methods design. Study 1a ( n = 414) was a survey study examining the expected biographical master narrative events for men and women, and the content of master narrative deviation and conformity in an emerging adult sample. In Study 1b ( n = 14) we interviewed participants from Study 1a about their conformity and deviation narratives, as well as their socialization experiences regarding gendered biographical master narratives. In Study 2 mothers and adolescents ( n = 11 pairs), engaged in conversation about expected life course events, as well as a follow-up interview about their conversation. We first found that there are more gender differences in the personal experiences of conformity to and deviation from master narratives compared to the expectations of the life course (Study 1a). Second, deviating is related to more engagement in identity processes (Study 1a). Third, emerging adults report contradictions in retrospective reports of socialization messages regarding expectations (Study 1b), a finding confirmed in a discourse analysis of mothers and their adolescents (Study 2). Overall, across the studies, we see that (a) adolescents and emerging adults are engaged in a delicate balance of negotiating between various cultural and familial messages, as well as personal experiences, about gender identity particularly in regards to gender equality and, (b) there is a complex relation between socialization messages about gender equality that may make some biographical master narratives about the expected life course events for men and women more resistant to change.

Identity Exploration and Commitment of Albanian Youth as a Function of Social Opportunity Structure

2006 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 268-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aida Orgocka ◽  
Jasna Jovanovic
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Identity Development ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Female Students ◽  
Male Students ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
School Students ◽  
Identity Exploration

This study examined how social opportunity structure influences identity exploration and commitment of Albanian high school students. A total of 258 students completed a questionnaire that gauged their identity exploration and commitment in three domains: education, occupation, and family. ANOVA results indicated that, overall, students scored highest in exploration in the domain of education and in commitment in the domain of family. Students' exploration and commitment were linked to gender. Albanian female students scored higher than male students in exploration and commitment regarding education and family. Perceived work opportunities in Albania or abroad also significantly moderated participants' exploration in the domain of education and were associated with commitment in education and occupation. As one of the first studies to explore Albanian youth's identity development in relation to social opportunity structure, findings are discussed in light of furthering the field of Albanian adolescent and youth development.

scholarly journals The influence of role models on trans men's identity development

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jennah Strathausen
Keyword(s):  
Identity Development ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Minority Stress ◽  
Protective Factor ◽  
Personal Narratives ◽  
Community Based Participatory Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Trans Men ◽  
And Gender

Transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals face significant stigma and discrimination stemming from negative societal attitudes toward their experienced gender incongruence. Much of the LGBTQ literature on TGNC health disparities and gender minority stress focuses on the influence of overt acts of violence and oppression, often leaving more subtle and ubiquitous stressors, like invisibility, unexplored. In addition, there is a limited amount of literature on the experiences of transgender men, particularly those residing in the central U.S. Research suggests that the influence of positive role models can mitigate many of the stressors experienced by TGNC people. This study aimed to explore the influence of role models on trans men's identity development. Using Photovoice Methodology situated in Community-Based Participatory Research, this project collaboratively explored the needs, assets, and concerns of trans men living in Mid-Missouri. Twelve participants (MdnAge = 31.5 years-old) and the researchers separately grouped the participant-generated photographs and personal narratives into eight themes, including Authenticity, Acceptance, Inaccessibility, Isolation, and "Trans Enough?" Results supported the idea that access to positive role models serves as a protective factor for TGNC people. Results additionally highlight that trans men possess significant characteristics of resilience. Several implications for practice, public policy, and future research are provided.

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