Children as storytellers: constructing identity through story

These are the words of a female Australian adolescent upper secondary school student commenting on her career development since early childhood. As reflected in her story, children begin to imagine themselves in adult work roles, tell stories of their experiences, and begin the process of constructing occupational identities at a very young age as career theory tells us (e.g., Gottfredson, 2005; Super, 1990). Identity is constructed through narrative (Gibson, 2004; LaPointe, 2010; Meijers & Lengelle, 2012); individuals construct stories based on their life experiences and, in doing so, construct their identities. Narrative identity has been described as an “internalized and evolving life story that a person constructs to make sense and meaning out of his or her life” (McAdams, 2011, p. 99)