Narrating the Stories of Our Lives Over Time and its Functional Implications for Our Health Público

Abstract

The manner in which people narrate their past experiences is indicative of their present psychological states. A plethora of studies demonstrate that how people structure their personal experiences in a coherent manner (e.g., give it a theme, context, and sense of chronology) and layer it with an element of integrative meaning (e.g., expressing growth from an experience) concurrently relates to a number of health benefits (e.g., higher life satisfaction, lower depression; Adler, Lodi-Smith, Phillippe, & Houle, 2016). Yet there are still looming questions over the relationship between narrative and health over and above personality traits and cognitive factors, and stability of relations across time. The present research collected data from 300 participants from an online community sample, ages 18 to 29, for a five time-point longitudinal study (62% retention), writing about highly positive and negative experiences, as well as a completed a series of individual difference measures at each time-point. Across three studies, I addressed the following objectives with this dataset: 1) to examine the incremental validity of narratives; 2) to examine the possible longitudinal effect of narrative on health; and 3) to implement machine learning approaches for specifying the extent to which narrative expressions relate to health. The main findings were threefold: 1) narrative expressions matter over and above verbal ability and personality variables to understand health indices; 2) narrative expressions consistently predict health over five points in time, over and above verbal ability and personality variables; and 3) implementing a machine learning algorithm helps derive a new indicator of narrative coherence that provides insights into the construct of coherence. These results further support that personal narratives provide a window into how people are making sense of their experiences over time in the service of understanding themselves and their emotions.

Table of Contents

General Introduction..................................................................................................................... 1

Narrative Psychology................................................................................................................... 3

Objective 1................................................................................................................................... 7

Objective 2................................................................................................................................. 10

Objective 3................................................................................................................................. 12

References.................................................................................................................................. 17

The Uniqueness of Narrative Expression in Predicting Health:

Accounting for Traits and Verbal Ability................................................................................. 22

Abstract...................................................................................................................................... 23

Introduction................................................................................................................................ 24

Methods..................................................................................................................................... 30

Results....................................................................................................................................... 36

Discussion................................................................................................................................. 41

References.................................................................................................................................. 45

The Longitudinally Stable Effects of Retelling Personal Narratives with Health.................. 60

Abstract...................................................................................................................................... 61

Introduction................................................................................................................................ 62

Methods..................................................................................................................................... 70

Results....................................................................................................................................... 77

Discussion................................................................................................................................. 80

References.................................................................................................................................. 86

An Automated Approach for Assessing the Semantic Coherence of

Personal Narratives................................................................................................................... 109

Abstract.................................................................................................................................... 110

Introduction.............................................................................................................................. 111

Study 1 Introduction................................................................................................................ 114

Study 1 Methods...................................................................................................................... 116

Study 1 Results........................................................................................................................ 120

Study 1 Discussion.................................................................................................................. 121

Study 2 Introduction................................................................................................................ 122

Study 2 Methods...................................................................................................................... 123

Study 2 Results........................................................................................................................ 125

Study 2 Discussion.................................................................................................................. 127

General Discussion.................................................................................................................. 128

References................................................................................................................................ 133

General Discussion.................................................................................................................... 156

Overarching Conclusions and Limitations............................................................................... 158

Implications and Future Directions.......................................................................................... 163

References................................................................................................................................ 169

About this Dissertation

Rights statement

• Permission granted by the author to include this thesis or dissertation in this repository. All rights reserved by the author. Please contact the author for information regarding the reproduction and use of this thesis or dissertation.

School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Psychology
Subfield / Discipline	Cognition and Development
Degree	Ph.D.
Submission	Dissertation
Language	English
Research Field	Psychology, Cognitive
Palabra Clave	narrative
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Fivush, Robyn, Emory University
Committee Members	Wolff, Phillip, Emory University Bauer, Patricia, Emory University Duke, Marshall, Emory University Haardörfer, Regine, Emory University

Última modificación

Primary PDF

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Actions
	Narrating the Stories of Our Lives Over Time and its Functional Implications for Our Health ()	2018-05-31 16:25:39 -0400	Press to Select an action Download

Supplemental Files

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Actions