The empirical structure of narrative identity: The initial Big Three.

A robust empirical literature suggests that individual differences in the thematic and structural aspects of life narratives are associated with and predictive of psychological well-being. However, 1 limitation of the current field is the multitude of ways of capturing these narrative features, with little attention to overarching dimensions or latent factors of narrative that are responsible for these associations with well-being. In the present study we uncovered a reliable structure that accommodates commonly studied features of life narratives in a large-scale, multi-university collaborative effort.

Too (Psychologically) Close for Comfort? Comparing Verbal Immediacy among Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOAs) and Non-ACOAs.

Background: Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOAs) have shown poorer psychosocial outcomes compared to their counterparts (non-ACOAs). These poorer outcomes, however, are not consistently present between groups. Investigating psychological markers of such functioning can help to highlight nuances between ACOAs and non-ACOAs even when mean differences of psychosocial outcomes are not present.

Sticking to the (romantic) script: an examination of love life scripts, stories, and self-reports of normality.

Life scripts represent cultural expectations regarding the events in the prototypical life whereas life stories represent narrative constructions of the events occurring in individuals' own lives. In Study 1, we generated an outline of the love life script and a list of the self-definitional events individuals tend to associate with their own love lives. Participants were prompted to produce and rate seven important events in the prototypical love life and several significant moments from their own love 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.