Identity status and narrative identity processes in female adolescents' stories about committing crimes and being convicted

INTRODUCTION

Adolescent delinquency has been suggested to evolve from a normative motivation to establish independence and identity. However, few studies have examined this in detail, especially in young women. The aim was, therefore, to investigate identity formation in adolescent females with limited delinquency by focusing on identity status and identity processes in narratives about committing crimes and being convicted.

METHODS

Interviews with 10 females, 15-18 years old, sentenced to youth service in three Swedish cities were conducted on Zoom.

RESULTS

The results showed an equal distribution of all identity statuses within the group. Thematic analysis of their stories about crime and conviction showed that delinquency was described in terms of exploration and commitment, although commitment appeared more clearly. Social relations, in particular peers, played an important role in both committing as well as desisting from delinquency. In terms of narrative processes, the stories contained elements of agency, although diminishing of one's own capability and/or responsibility was common, and meaning making, mostly lesson learning, usually pertained to behaviors, interactional rules, or norms.

CONCLUSION

These findings point to the importance of viewing delinquency among young women in a social and developmental context, where delinquency may be a part of the process of identity formation. Interventions focusing on expressing needs of belonging as well as finding oneself in more adaptive ways are warranted, where supporting pro-social relations and contexts is a suggested focus.

Self-defining memories in non-justice and justice-involved individuals: possible relations to recidivism

Given the high rates of recidivism in adults, additional efforts in this area are warranted. In this paper, we provide a developmental perspective on self-defining memories, a specific type of autobiographical memory. We review the literature on self-defining memories in offenders and non-offenders high in psychopathic traits. Next, we present an empirically based conceptual framework regarding self-defining memories and recidivism, including a model of recidivism that integrates self-defining memories with identity, decision making, and behavioral processes related to recidivism. We then critique this model. We call for future research to test this model. Should results be fruitful, we discuss potential applications of this work.

Cognitive scripts and narrative identity are shaped by structures of power

Constructing a narrative identity involves developing an understanding of oneself as integrated through time and across contexts, a task critical to psychosocial development and functioning. However, research has primarily focused on the individual in isolation or in highly localized contexts. This is problematic because narrative identity is profoundly shaped by structures of power; thus, we cannot understand how individuals understand themselves through time, across contexts, and as a member of a particular community without attention to the structure of society. We propose a structural-psychological framework for the study of autobiographical memory, narrative, and context that examines how structures of power are maintained, and potentially changed, through the narration of autobiographical events, as guided by cognitive scripts, or master narratives.

Stability and change in autobiographical reasoning: A 4-year longitudinal study of narrative identity development

OBJECTIVE

Research on personality development has traditionally focused on rank-order stability and mean-level change in the context of personality traits. The present study expands this approach to the examination of change and stability at another level of personality-narrative identity-by focusing on autobiographical reasoning. Drawing from theory in personality and developmental science, we examine stability and change in exploratory processing and positive and negative self-event connections.

METHOD

We take advantage of a longitudinal study of emerging adult personality and identity development, which includes four waves of data across 4 years, examining reasoning in two domains of identity, academics, and romance (n = 1520 narratives; n = 176-638 participants, depending on the analysis).

RESULTS

We found moderate rank-order stability in autobiographical reasoning, but more so for exploratory processing than self-event connections. We found mean-level increases for exploratory processing in the context of romance and stability in the context of academics. For self-event connections, we saw a decrease for positive connections, and for negative connections about romance, with stability for negative connections about academics.

CONCLUSIONS

Implications include developmental differences in types of reasoning as well as the sensitivity of narrative identity to revealing the contextual nature of personality development.

Narrating the nadir: examining personal and vicarious stories of cancer-related low points among survivors and romantic partners

Objective: To investigate low point autobiographical narratives among cancer survivors and romantic partners.Design: Cancer survivors (Study 1) and romantic partners (Study 2) narrated the low points of their cancer experiences. Partners also narrated stories of cancer survivors' low points. Narratives were coded for their manifest content, as well as redemption (negative-to-positive arc), contamination (positive-to-negative arc), and tone (positive or negative valence).Main Outcome Measures: Self-reported measures of health and well-being (life satisfaction, cancer-related worry, impact of cancer).Results: The diagnosis moment was the most frequently recognised low point among survivors and partners. Survivors who narrated contaminated low points reported marginally less somatisation, salience of cancer recurrence, and that cancer had a marginally less positive impact, relative to survivors whose narratives did not contain contamination. Tone in partners' low points predicted marginally less worry and more somatisation. The tone of their vicarious low points negatively correlated with anxiety.Conclusion: This research contributes to the growing body of work examining, and giving voice to, the experiences of cancer survivors and those close to them. As such, it informs applied health researchers of potentially challenging cancer-related experiences, and the way(s) in which the storying of these experiences align with psychological flourishing.

Narrating the Transition to Adulthood for Youth in Uganda: Leaving School, Mobility, Risky Occupations, and HIV

School enrollment, mobility, and occupation are each important factors to consider when examining HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infection risk among youth in sub-Saharan Africa. Through an analysis of narrative life histories from 30 HIV-positive and 30 HIV-negative youth (aged 15-24 years), matched on gender, age, and village and purposively selected and interviewed from the Rakai Community Cohort Study, this article shows the complex connection between leaving school, mobility, and occupation with implications for HIV risk. We identified a pattern of risk factors that was present in many more HIV-positive than HIV-negative youth life stories. These HIV-positive youth shared a similar pathway during their transition to adulthood: After leaving school, they moved in search of occupations; they then engaged in risky occupations before eventually returning to their home village. Linking the lines of inquiry on school enrollment, mobility, and risky occupations, our findings have important implications for adolescent health research, practice, and policy in Uganda and across sub-Saharan Africa and the developing world.

Enhancing the sense of self of peer supporters using life design-related counselling

This article explores the possible effects of group-based life design-related counselling on the sense of self of female adolescent peer supporters. Convenience and purposive sampling were used to select 24 participants at a private school (mean age = 16.5 years; standard deviation = 6.4 months). A parallel interactive mixed-method design, embedded in an intervention framework, was used to gather data. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare pre- and post-test scores obtained on the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale and the Resiliency Scales for Children and Adolescents. Strong evidence of change was found on the Control scale (Career Adapt-Abilities Scale) and on the scales of Mastery, Self-efficacy, and Comfort (Resiliency Scales for Children and Adolescents). The results suggest that group-based intervention programmes, when based on self-construction and life design principles, could serve as a viable intervention process for adolescent girls during their discovery of a unique sense of self. Future research should focus on the question of sustainability of the newly gained sense of self due to participation in the life design-related programme.

Rapid Repeat Birth: Intersections Between Meaning-Making and Situational Support Among Multiparous Adolescent Mothers

This study examined interpretations of motherhood among adolescents who have experienced rapid repeat births (second births within 24 months of the primiparous birth). Analyses of participants’ descriptions of their transitions to motherhood indicate four modal narratives that vary along two axes: the adoption of a motherhood identity, and the nature (or stability) of relational support available. By using subjective perceptions of motivation, stability, and feelings of competence, this study linked intrapersonal meaning-making with situational sources of support to describe various pathways through repeat adolescent childbearing in a way that both confirms and enriches extant literature. The implications of this study instruct home visiting programs and other interventions designed to forestall repeat pregnancies by elucidating pathways of reinforcement or increased risk inherent in some maternal trajectories. Following this logic, interventions directed at improving outcomes for young mothers and their children would do well to consider the interplay between internal meaning-making, relational support, and the transformative power of adopting the mother identity.

Considering Identity and Meaning Constructions for Vulnerable Young People

Identity and meaning are fundamental to human experience and are particularly pertinent during adolescence and times of adversity. While identity development and meaning making can be different for vulnerable young people, who experience multiple adverse life events, there is currently little evidence of how these young people construct identity and make meaning from their experiences. This article reports on a phenomenological study, which allowed young people to start from their own understandings of identity and meaning and explore the ways they constructed their sense of self and place in the world. Interviews were conducted with 24 young people from Canberra, Australia. The study found identity constructions were profoundly influenced by an entrenched sense of autonomy, a longing to be the opposite of what they had experienced, and the expectation of living up to their own constructions of an ideal self. The findings strengthen our understanding of identity construction for this group, highlight the value of adopting narrative approaches to identity exploration, and demonstrate the value of incorporating knowledge from the field of loss and grief. Strategies to support vulnerable young people to develop positive, coherent, and achievable identity and meaning constructions are provided.

My life as a pupil: The autobiographical memories of adolescents excluded from school

Narrative psychology is founded on the premise that substantial insight can be gained into individuals' self-understanding and behaviour by studying the content of their autobiographical memories. This article contributes to this field of inquiry by suggesting that our understanding of adolescents' exclusion from mainstream education can be enhanced by examining their recollections of school using a narrative dialogical approach. In a research project the autobiographical memories of fifteen female and twenty male students, aged 15-16 years, who had been excluded from secondary schools in London, England were collected and analysed. The aim was to examine how in their narrated depictions of the past, the adolescents explained and justified their position and behaviour at different times in their lives at school. The findings highlight how adolescents perceive themselves to have become positioned by the voices of significant others, schools as institutions and themselves at earlier or later stages in their lives.

Down on the upside: redemption, contamination, and agency in the lives of adult children of alcoholics

We investigated differences in the nature and implications of Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOAs; n = 53) and non-ACOAs' (n = 80) narrative identities. Participants described six autobiographical narratives and completed measures of emotional functioning. Narratives were coded for redemptive (bad things turning good), contaminated (good things turning bad), and agentic (perceived control) imagery. ACOAs exhibited similar levels of redemptive and contaminated imagery, and lower levels of agency in their narratives, relative to non-ACOAs. In addition, themes of redemption, contamination, and agency corresponded divergently with emotional functioning. Among ACOAs, narrative redemption and agency were related to poorer emotional functioning whereas, among non-ACOAs, narrative contamination predicted poorer emotional functioning. These findings provide indication of the manner in which ACOAs story their lives. They also align with the emerging area of research noting that, among certain vulnerable populations, redemptive and agentic imagery serve as predictors of maladaptive functioning.