Abstracting and extracting: causal coherence and the development of the life story

This study compared episodic memories of emerging adults (age 18-22) and early adolescents (age 13-15) for life story events and other memories, in an attempt to distinguish characteristics of the life story. Participants were also asked to describe the connection between the stories told. Stories were analyzed for three measures of causal coherence: 1) meaning making, 2) narrative complexity, and 3) the use of causal terms; and one measure of thematic coherence. Results show an impact of age in three measures (meaning making, narrative complexity, and thematic coherence) and of story type (life story vs. non-life story) in all measures. Effects of age show that young adults' narratives showed more evidence of self-related abstract thinking and the ability to see multiple dimensions. Effects of story type indicated that turning point narratives and event connections narratives contained more self-related lessons and insights, displayed greater recognition of complexity, and employed more causal terms. Descriptions of peak experiences and low points did not differ significantly from other episodic memories on these measures of coherence. As well, connections between narratives were more abstract and self-related in the older group and in the life story condition. Findings show that two important narrative characteristics, narrative complexity and reference to self-related lessons and insights develop in adolescence, and are more prevalent in turning point narratives.M.S.Includes bibliographical references (p. 24-28)by Azriel Grysma