Center on Autobiographical Memory Research, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
Department of Research and Development, Prehospital Emergency Medical Services, Aarhus, Denmark.
Memory. 2023 Sep;31(8):1051-1061. doi: 10.1080/09658211.2023.2218632. Epub 2023 Jun 1.
Narrative identity refers to a person's internalized and evolving life story. It is a rapidly growing research field, motivated by studies showing a unique association with well-being. Here we show that this association disappears when controlling for the emotional valence of the stories told and individuals' general experience of autobiographical memory. Participants (= 235) wrote their life story and completed questionnaires on their general experience of autobiographical memory and several dimensions of well-being and affect. Participants' life stories were coded for standard narrative identity variables, including agency and communion. When controlling for emotional valence of the life story, the general experience of autobiographical memory was a significant predictor of most well-being measures, whereas agency was a predictor of one variable only and communion of none. These findings contradict the claim of an incremental association between narrative identity and well-being, and have important theoretical and practical implications for narrative identity as an outcome measure in interventions.
叙述身份是指一个人的内在的、不断发展的生活故事。它是一个快速发展的研究领域，其研究动机是表明它与幸福感存在独特的关联。在这里，我们表明，当控制所讲述的故事的情绪效价和个体对自传体记忆的一般体验时，这种关联就会消失。参与者（= 235）写下他们的生活故事，并完成关于他们对自传体记忆的一般体验以及幸福感和情绪的几个维度的问卷。参与者的生活故事按照标准的叙述身份变量进行编码，包括能动性和同质性。当控制生活故事的情绪效价时，自传体记忆的一般体验是大多数幸福感衡量标准的重要预测因素，而能动性仅预测了一个变量，同质性则没有预测任何变量。这些发现与叙述身份与幸福感之间存在增量关联的说法相矛盾，并对干预措施中的叙述身份作为结果衡量标准具有重要的理论和实践意义。
