scholarly journals ALTERNATIVE MASTER NARRATIVE: THE AVENUE LEADING TO GENERATIVITY

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-83
Author(s):  
Lili Khechuashvili ◽  
Mariam Gogichaishvili ◽  
Tamari Jananashvili
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Identity Development ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Narrative Structure ◽  
Master Narrative ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Research Participants ◽  
Autobiographical Reasoning

Two independent mixed method studies are aimed at exploration of the major process of negotiation with an internalization of the master narrative, which assists as the cultural framework for narrative identity development. It analysed and compared the data obtained from same-sex desire individuals, ex-convicts and ordinary Georgian citizens, and traced the process of autobiographical reasoning and negotiation with autobiographical master narrative as the mean for development alternative master narrative, which, in turn, serves as the avenue for overcoming stigma, achieving resocialization and generativity, and coming in accord to one’s own identity. The comparative analysis addressed the following questions: How do research participants construct biographical alternative master narrative? Does this narrative lead to generativity? Does autobiographical reasoning mediate development of alternative master narrative? Altogether 30 life stories (16 same-sex desired persons and 14 ex-convicts) or 840 narratives were coded for narrative autobiographical reasoning, generativity, as well as for narrative structure (redemption and contamination). Besides, thematic comparative analysis was carried out. Qualitative analysis revealed the main thematic lines of the life stories, such as stigmatization and victimization, family relations, hard childhood experiences, urge for generativity, resocialization and identity formation. Research participants from both samples constructed their life stories or narrative identities through bringing on the surface the implicit master narrative and creating their own alternative one via either shifting and replacing the events or modifying sequences of the events included in the normative life story or autobiographical master narrative.

scholarly journals Links Between Life Stories and Identity Profiles in Emerging Adults From Georgia

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 422-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nino Skhirtladze ◽  
Nino Javakhishvili ◽  
Seth J. Schwartz ◽  
Koen Luyckx
Keyword(s):  
Identity Development ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Emerging Adults ◽  
Personal Identity ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Case Examples ◽  
Life Story Interview ◽  
Dual Cycle ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Methods

In this study, we examine personal identity formation using two approaches: a dual-cycle model of identity development and a narrative life-story model. We used quantitative and qualitative methods for studying personal identity: Luyckx et al.’s Dimensions of Identity Development Scale and D. P. McAdams’ life-story interview. Using six cases selected from a sample of 62 Georgian emerging adults, we illustrate how identity profiles created using six identity dimensions (exploration in breadth, commitment-making, identification with commitment, reflective exploration in depth, reconsideration of commitment, and ruminative exploration) are reflected in life stories depicting participants’ paths toward identity commitments and their ideas about the future and life themes. This article demonstrates how identity dimensions are connected to the context and how this connection is manifested in their life stories. The research illustrates theoretical exemplification by case studies and exemplifies the manifestation of dual-cycle identity development theorizing in case examples through narratives.

scholarly journals Tożsamościowe wyzwania kobiet sprawujących opiekę nad dzieckiem w związkach jednopłciowych w świetle koncepcji Vivienne Cass

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 217-244
Author(s):  
Jowita Wycisk Jowita Wycisk
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Orientation ◽  
Identity Development ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Industrial Society ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Extensive Discussion ◽  
Sexual Orientation Identity ◽  
Parental Identity ◽  
And Bisexual ◽  
Bisexual Identity

Development of the contemporary post-industrial society entails the increasing diversity of family life models. People, making individual choices in this field, face new challenges related to identity formation. In the text presented this issue is discussed on the example of women bringing up children in same-sex relationships. The article presents basic information on the same-sex parenting, underlines the importance of the idea of identity integration in psychology and stresses the lack of contiguity between theories of parental identity development and these ones of homosexual and bisexual identity development. An extensive discussion of the Vivienne Cass’s theory of sexual orientation identity development is the basis for the approximation of potential discrepancies in the identity system of non-heterosexual women taking parental roles. Two main factors relevant to the processes of identity formation were distinguished: the order of the development of the sexual orientation identity and parental identity (the planned and reconstructed families differ in this regard) and the way of establishing and maintaining the relationship with the child (other challenges are faced by biological and social mothers). In the summary, questions requiring future empirical exploration were notified.

Hidden Voices of Japanese Returnees: The Quest for Identity and Life Trajectories

Humaniora ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-99
Author(s):  
Firman Budianto
Keyword(s):  
Identity Development ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Host Country ◽  
Japanese Society ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Bicultural Identity ◽  
Life Trajectories ◽  
Life Trajectory ◽  
The Impact

The research aimed to discuss and analyze Japanese returnees’ life story and self-perception on their identity by emphasizing how the host country affected their identity development as well as their vision on the future. The data were drawn from in-depth interviews with three kikokushijo students and qualitatively analyzed. The research finds three areas related to how the host country shaped their identity and future life trajectory; the development of bicultural identity, the feeling of being kikokushijo in Japanese society nowadays, and the impact of living overseas to future life trajectory. Three kikokushijos in the research demonstrate the different processes in their bicultural identity formation. Among the key factors in such a process are the family and school. The social contexts of the country where they resided play a greater role not in shaping their cultural identity, but in shaping their life trajectories, particularly, their career aspirations and future mobility. However, the research suggests that the discourse on kikokushijo paves the way to the idea of individualism and heterogeneity in Japanese society.

scholarly journals The Obstacles that Parents Encountered when Taking Children to Psychological Clinic in Vietnam

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-156
Author(s):  
Nguyen Thi Dung
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Financial Problems ◽  
Research Participants ◽  
Life Story Interview ◽  
Psychological Examination ◽  
Interpretative Phenomenology ◽  
Depth Interviews

This study aimed to explore difficulties that parents faced when bringing their children to psychological examination in Vietnam through their life stories. The research participants included 5 fathers and 3 mothers having children diagnosed with autism. A preliminary interview prior to the study and in-depth interviews were carried out with their voluntariness. To collect and analyze the data, "Life Story Interview" list was implemented, data analysis phases of interpretative phenomenology was used in this study. As a result, key problems that parents met on this tough journey so that their children could be examined were (1) financial problems, (2) tiredness, and (3) unexpected behaviors of the children. Analyses showed that despite the challenges, parents tried their best in order to know exactly the name of their children’s problem.

The life story

2013 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
William L. Dunlop ◽  
Lawrence J. Walker
Keyword(s):  
Identity Formation ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Identity Crisis ◽  
Small Stories ◽  
Autobiographical Reasoning

In this article, we review, on three grounds, the nature of the life story. First, we evaluate the appropriateness of the proposal that the life story emerges in adolescence (the time of the traditional identity crisis). Second, we examine the relation between big stories (of which the life story is one) and small stories. Finally, we consider whether the construction of the life story (and narration more broadly) represents the sole mode of identity formation. It is argued here that (a) the belief that adolescence marks the emergence of the life story is based on an unnecessarily limiting requisite for autobiographical reasoning; (b) collective understanding of stories, big and small, would be furthered through a more thorough consideration of their relation; and (c) the construction of a life story represents one of at least two viable routes for identity formation; identity can also be attained via a non-narrative, paradigmatic route.

scholarly journals The Creative Process, Memoir, And Redemption

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-40
Author(s):  
Lawrence Karn ◽  
Takahiko Hattori
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Creative Process ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Narrative Structure ◽  
Challenging Problem ◽  
Power Differentials ◽  
The Relationship

Stories live to be told to others, Dan McAdams (2008) writes: Life stories therefore are continually made and remade in social relationships and in the overall social context provided by culture. As psychosocial constructions, life stories reflect the values, norms, and power differentials inherent in societies, wherein they have their constitutive meanings. The construction of coherent life stories is an especially challenging problem for adults living in contemporary modern (and postmodern) societies, wherein selves are viewed as reflexive projects imbued with complexity and depth, ever changing yet demanding a coherent framing. This paper considers the memoir as a kind of life story, to be explored through selected memoirists, researchers, and scholars by focusing on the relationship between identity construction, memory, history, and imagination. Narrative structure, as well as the compelling experiences and ideas detailed in memoirs, will be analyzed to arrive at a better understanding of issues related to the creative process.  

Parents have lives, too!

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Budziszewska ◽  
Janina Pietrzak
Keyword(s):  
Early Adolescence ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Narrative Structure ◽  
Text Structure ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Narrative Form ◽  
Temporal Perspective ◽  
Story Structure ◽  
Narrative Story

The ability to tell one’s own, culturally valid life story emerges in adolescence — the process that has been metaphorically termed “getting a life”. Between early adolescence and the verge of adulthood, autobiographical stories gain broader temporal perspectives and show greater complexity. But do adolescents use the same narrative story structure when talking about their close ones, such as their parents? We analysed 348 texts written by adolescents and early adults concerning their parents. We demonstrated that, with age, communication changes from a descriptive, present tense format to complex life stories. We used specific indicators of narrative form: text structure, intentionality, temporal perspective, and point of view. Results indicate that early adults are more likely than are younger individuals to use narrative structure and content in their communication. We conclude that, by the end of adolescence, parents are increasingly given their own life stories in the voices of their children.

scholarly journals Adolescents’ Identity Formation: Linking the Narrative and the Dual-Cycle Approach

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lotte van Doeselaar ◽  
Kate C. McLean ◽  
Wim H. J. Meeus ◽  
Jaap J. A. Denissen ◽  
Theo Klimstra
Keyword(s):  
Identity Formation ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Narrative Approach ◽  
Empirical Knowledge ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Key Characteristics ◽  
Dual Cycle ◽  
Middle Adolescence ◽  
Autobiographical Reasoning

The narrative and dual-cycle approach conceptualize and operationalize adolescents’ identity formation in different ways. While the narrative approach focuses on the construction of an autobiographical life story, the dual-cycle approach focuses on the formation of identity commitments. Although these approaches have different emphases, they are conceptually complementary. Yet, their empirical links and distinctions have only scarcely been investigated. Empirical knowledge on these links in adolescence and across time has been especially lacking. In the present research, it was therefore examined whether key characteristics of adolescents’ narration (autobiographical reasoning and agency) were concurrently and prospectively related to engagement in the dual-cycle processes of commitment making, identification with commitment, exploration in breadth, exploration in depth, and ruminative exploration. The findings from a cross-sectional sample of 1,580 Dutch adolescents (Mage = 14.7 years, 56% female) demonstrated that autobiographical reasoning was significantly positively associated with the commitment and more adaptive exploration processes (i.e., in breadth and in depth). In addition, agency was significantly positively associated with the commitment processes and exploration in depth. Yet, these associations between the narrative characteristics and dual-cycle processes were only weak. Subsequently, the findings from a two-year longitudinal subsample (n = 242, Mage = 14.7 years, 62% female) indicated that on average commitment strength remained stable but exploration increased across middle adolescence. A stronger increase in identification with commitment and adaptive exploration (i.e., in breadth and in depth) was predicted by a higher degree of agency in adolescents’ narratives. Overall, these findings indicate that both approaches to identity formation are associated, but the small size of these associations suggests that they predominantly capture unique aspects of identity formation. Both approaches could thus complement and inform each other.

Blessing’s (Life) Story: An Adolescent in Residential Care Living with HIV

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenita Chiba ◽  
Jeanette Schmid
Keyword(s):  
Identity Formation ◽  
Residential Care ◽  
Antiretroviral Treatment ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Care Facility ◽  
Hiv Positive ◽  
Residential Care Facility ◽  
Living With Hiv ◽  
Specific Construction

The lifespan of perinatally HIV-infected children in South Africa has increased owing to the availability of antiretroviral treatment, allowing growth into adolescence and beyond. There is limited knowledge of the lived realities of adolescents with HIV. This paper, using life story methodology and based on Blessing’s narrative, provides an intersectional, complex view of the experience of one such teenager who is perinatally HIV-positive, was abandoned by his family and is living in a residential care facility. His story powerfully illuminates the specific construction of adolescence in this context, focusing on identity formation and the need for connection. The narrative also points to service providers’ practice when engaged with such youths.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document