Redemption in a single low point story longitudinally predicts well-being: The incremental validity of life story elements.

Objective: Extending research on the incremental validity of life story variables and the importance of particular kinds of story contexts, this paper tested the hypothesis that a single theme (narrative redemption) in a specific life story episode (the low point-or an episode that challenges the self) can predict well-being, above and beyond covariates.

Method: Two samples, an emerging adult (N = 144) and a late midlife sample (N = 158), provided life story episodes with different life story collection methods (written and interview) and completed self-report measures concurrently and longitudinally.

Results: The findings indicated that low point redemption was associated concurrently and longitudinally with well-being when controlling for the Big Five factors of Extraversion and Neuroticism and narrative word count.

Gender and competitive preferences: The role of competition size.

In a series of 8 studies, we examine whether gender differences in competition entry preferences are moderated by the size of the competition. Drawing on theories of gender roles and stereotypes, we show that women, relative to men, prefer to enter smaller compared with larger competitions. Studies 1a and 1b demonstrate this effect in observational data on preferences for working in differently sized firms and applying to differently sized colleges.