Contextualizing narrative identity: A consideration of assessment settings

We examined the influence features of assessment contexts exhibited on the content of the key autobiographical scenes often considered by personality psychologists. Participants (N = 402) narrated life high points, low points, and turning points within a 2(interviewer; present, absent) × 2(response format; written, spoken) study design. Narratives were quantified for 15 linguistic (e.g., negative emotion words) and six conceptual (e.g., affective tone) variables. We noted that 93% of linguistic variables and 83% of conceptual variables differed as a function of assessment context in the form of main effects for, and/or interactions between, study variables. The narrative materials commonly assessed by personality psychologists are highly sensitive to features of the contexts in which they are assessed.     

Narrative, identity and mental health: How men with serious mental illness re-story their lives through sport and exercise

ObjectivesIt has been suggested that mental illness threatens identity and sense of self when one's personal story is displaced by dominant illness narratives focussing on deficit and dysfunction. One role of therapy, therefore, is to allow individuals to re-story their life in a more positive way which facilitates the reconstruction of a meaningful identity and sense of self. This research explores the ways in which involvement in sport and exercise may play a part in this process.DesignQualitative analysis of narrative.MethodWe used an interpretive approach which included semi-structured interviews and participant observation with 11 men with serious mental illness to gather stories of participants’ sport and exercise experiences. We conducted an analysis of narrative to explore the more general narrative types which were evident in participants’ accounts.FindingsWe identified three narrative types underlying participants’ talk about sport and exercise: (a) an action narrative about “going places and doing stuff”; (b) an achievement narrative about accomplishment through effort, skill or courage; (c) a relationship narrative of shared experiences to talk about combined with opportunities to talk about those experiences. We note that these narrative types differ significantly from—and may be considered alternatives to—dominant illness narratives.ConclusionThis study provides an alternative perspective on how sport and exercise can help men with serious mental illness by providing the narrative resources which enabled participants to re-story aspects of their lives through creating and sharing personal stories through which they rebuilt or maintained a positive sense of self and identity.     

When the final whistle blows: Social identity pathways support mental health and life satisfaction after retirement from competitive sport

For many athletes, retirement from higher levels of competitive sport poses significant challenges. Research has shown that athletic identity is a key predictor of adjustment trajectories, but the mechanisms through which this affects outcomes are less clear. Added to this, there has been limited research on the role that wider social identities, and the resources they enable, play in adjustment. Addressing both these issues, we examined theoretically derived social identity pathways to retirement adjustment in athletes who had played sport at higher competitive levels and two potential mechanisms, or psychological resources, through which adjustment might be enabled. This was examined in two samples: retired athletes from countries in Western (n = 215) and Eastern (n = 183) regions. Loss of athletic identity, social group memberships (multiple, maintained and new), psychological resources (perceived meaning in life and control), and adjustment (life satisfaction, depression, and perceived physical health) were assessed. In both samples, the loss of athletic identity undermined adjustment by reducing meaning in life and perceived control. Path analysis showed that both maintained and gained social group memberships counteracted the negative effects of athletic identity loss on adjustment. Evidence that these pathways enabled access to psychological resources was found primarily in Chinese athletes, with maintained groups influencing personal control and new groups influencing meaning in life. These findings highlight the importance of social identity processes to retirement from higher levels of competitive sport and the mechanisms through which they can either support or undermine adjustment.     

Narrating career, positioning identity: Career identity as a narrative practice

In contrast to traditional definitions of career identity as an individual construct, this article argues for a discursive approach to career identity as a narrative practice. Career identity is conceptualized as a practice of articulating, performing and negotiating identity positions in narrating career experiences. By using the concept of positioning, this approach situates identities within particular historic, cultural and interactional contexts via the discourses and master narratives that position identity. It also leaves space for individual agency and change via the reflexive capacity of the person to modify and negotiate the competing positions available. The methodological implications are considered, and illustrated with an empirical case analysis. The contribution of the proposed approach is in offering contextualized understandings of actual practices, resources and constraints of identity construction while also allowing for in-depth analyses of the particularities of identity work and possibilities for change in careers.     

自传体叙事中的自我欺骗:个体的自我认同策略

自传体叙事中的自我欺骗是一种从个体内角度理解的自我欺骗,是无人际压力情况下个体自我建构过程中所使用的一种认同策略。这种自我欺骗发生在自传体叙事过程中,个体通过叙事语言拉开"新我"和"旧我"的叙事距离,建立新的目标追求并实现,最终构建新的叙事认同。在这个过程中,个体在维持正性自我概念的动机驱动下,采用有偏差的信息加工方式叙述自我故事,满足情绪体验与情绪评价一致性的需要,进而影响个体的自我意识,引发自我改变。未来研究可以探讨自传体叙事中自我欺骗在临床中的行为表现与治疗策略,考察其认知神经机制,并探讨不同社会文化背景下自我欺骗的特点与影响因素。     

The link between mental health,crime and violence

Research investigating the link between mental health, crime and violence often rely on populations that are at a high-risk of violent and criminal behaviour, such as prison inmates and psychiatric patients. As a result of this selection bias, the relationship between mental health, criminal and violent behaviour is significantly over-estimated, with mental health being incorrectly linked with violent and criminal behaviours. This study examines the relationship between mental health, violence and crime in a more representative community-based sample. One hundred and twenty-one individuals with and without a mental health disorder reported their involvement in crime and completed an aggression questionnaire. The results revealed that there is no statistically significant difference in terms of violence and crime involvement between individuals with a mental health diagnosis and those without. Moreover, the study did not find any statistically significant associations between specific mental health disorders and specific crime offences. The findings suggest that certain mental health disorders do not strongly contribute to crime violence and involvement. Limitations and implications are discussed in detail.     

Examining associations among factor-analytically derived components of mental health stigma, distress, and psychological flexibility

Mental health stigma can be detrimental not only for the recipient, but also for the stigmatizer. As mental health stigma is often conceptualized as a multidimensional construct, Study 1 first examined the factor structure of mental health stigma as assessed by the Stigmatizing Attitudes-Believability (SAB; Masuda, Price, Anderson, Schmertz, & Calamaras, 2009). Study 2 investigated differential relations between the factor-analytically derived components of mental health stigma and psychological distress and psychological flexibility. Results of Study 1 revealed that mental health stigma consisted of two related, yet separable components: Exclusion and Course/Origin. The Exclusion component was characterized by negative emotions and cognitions associated with an increased desire for social distance. Course/Origin was marked by pessimistic views toward treatment prognosis and recovery. Results of Study 2 suggested that these two components have differential associations with psychological distress and flexibility. The Course/Origin component of stigma, but not Exclusion, was associated with psychological distress of the stigmatizer. Furthermore, this association was fully mediated by lower levels of psychological flexibility. These findings suggest the importance of conceptualizing mental health stigma multidimensionally.     

Examining the factor structure of narrative meaning-making for stressful events and relations with psychological distress

This study examined the underlying factor structure of 15 narrative meaning-making indices for narratives of stressful events, and explored the incremental validity of the narrative factor solution over and above general personality traits in predicting various indices of psychological well-being. Two-hundred and twenty four undergraduates (M_age?=?19.2 years, SD_age?=?2.1; 114 males and 110 females; 67.6% Caucasian, 12.0% East Asian, 7.6% African-American, 4.0% South Asian, 2.2% Hispanic, and 6.7% as mixed or Other origin) wrote about the most traumatic experience in their life, and completed a series of psychological questionnaires. The narratives were coded in 15 ways theoretically derived from the narrative meaning-making literature. A series of exploratory structural equation models indicated that a four-factor solution best approximated the data. The four factors were: positive processing, negative processing, integrative meaning, and structure. All four factors related differentially to indices of well-being over and above traits. There appear to be four distinct, but related, factors of narrative meaning-making for memories of stressful events, which shed light on the nuanced relations with well-being.     

The relationships between religiosity,stress, and mental health for Muslim immigrant youth

Acculturation, or the process of change that takes place as a result of intercultural contact, can cause a range of stressors. The task of managing this acculturative stress is particularly difficult for Muslim immigrants in Western contexts due to the global rise of Islamophobia. Research investigating the experiences of young migrant Muslims has found inconsistent results regarding the moderating influences of religious identity and religious practices on the relationship between stress and mental health. The current study examined whether levels of religiosity interacted with distinct forms of acculturative stress in the prediction of depression and well-being for Muslim youth in New Zealand. Results painted a complex picture of the relationships between religiosity and mental health, finding that greater religiosity is generally positive for youth outcomes, but it also carries the risk lowering levels of mental health through its interactions with acculturative stress.     

Associations between narrative transportation,risk perception and behaviour intentions following narrative messages about skin cancer

Objective: Narrative messages may be an effective strategy to increase risk perceptions and motivate preventive behaviours related to cancer. The aim of this research was to examine associations between narrative transportation (i.e. psychological absorption into a narrative), risk perceptions, and intentions following narrative messages about skin cancer.

Design: In two studies, women who reported indoor tanning read first-person narrative messages about skin cancer. We examined associations between narrative transportation and the women’s responses to the narratives, including risk perceptions for skin cancer and behaviour intentions to reduce risk. Associations between transportation, knowledge and worry were also examined.

Results: Greater transportation was associated with higher intentions to perform skin self-examination, talk to one’s doctor about skin cancer, and look for more information. Greater transportation was also associated with higher gut feelings of risk and higher worry about skin cancer, but not deliberative risk perceptions or knowledge from the message. Additional analyses showed that after controlling for risk perception and worry, transportation had unique associations with some behaviour intentions.

Conclusion: Findings suggest that narrative transportation may be an important component to the persuasion of cancer narratives. Future research should explore ideas such as the role of the experiential system in narratives’ influence.     

Becoming a teller of tales: associations between children's fictional narratives and parent-child reminiscence narratives

Previous research has revealed a connection between the contributions parents make while reminiscing and their children’s narratives for personally experienced events. The current research expands the literature by focusing on the connection between parental reminiscing and children’s production of fictional narratives. After 4- to 9-year-olds and their parents reminisced about past shared events, the children (with an experimenter) produced narratives based on wordless picture books. The results revealed that the overall quality of the fictional narratives was correlated with parents’ provision statements that emphasized orientation and evaluation in the reminiscence narrative. For younger children, correlations held for reminiscence narratives about recent events. For older children, correlations held for reminiscence narratives about events from the distant past. The results are consistent with the suggestion that children learn general storytelling skills from adult models.     

“双37”高射炮兵自我概念与心理健康相关研究

目的:探讨"双37"高射炮兵自我概念与心理健康之间的关系。方法:采用田纳西自我概念量表(TSCS)和临床症状自评量表(SCL-90),对143名"双37"高射炮兵的自我概念与心理健康进行了测量、统计与分析。结果:不同自我概念水平的"双37"高射炮兵在SCL-90上的得分有显著差异,且"双37"高射炮兵自我概念及各因子(自我批评因子除外)均与心理健康状况呈显著的正相关。对"双37"高射炮兵心理健康影响最大的是心理自我,其次是生理自我。结论:引导"双37"高射炮兵正确评价自己、悦纳自己是促进其心理健康的有效途径。     

Narrative and discursive perspectives on athletic identity: Past,present, and future

ObjectivesThe dominant role-based conceptualisations of athletic identity have recently been challenged in favour of theoretical perspectives that view identity as a complex cultural construction. In the present study, we analysed empirical studies on athletic identity positioned in narrative and discursive approaches to gain an insight into the use and subsequent contribution of these approaches to knowledge production in this research topic.Design and methodA total of 23 articles, of which 18 narrative studies and five discursive studies, were identified in a systematic literature search. We used the meta-study method to analyse these studies in terms of basic assumptions, methodologies, and findings.ResultsEarly narrative studies focused on biographical disruption in career termination and/or severe injury, whereas more recent studies examined the impact of different identity narratives on athletes' well-being and career decisions. Discursive studies examined the multiple ways in which dominant understandings of gender, age, and the athletic body are (re)produced and normalised within sporting cultures and institutions and can act to constrain athletes to certain identities and practices. Both approaches highlighted that elite sport culture offers limited narrative resources or subject positions for athletes, and can endanger athletes' well-being if they are unable to comply with dominant ideals of being an athlete.ConclusionsNarrative and discursive approaches have advanced understandings of the constitutive role of sporting culture in athletic identity formation. Future research should continue exploring athletic identity in various physical cultural contexts and seek to identify alternative narratives and discourses that may enable athletes to construct more adaptive identities.     

Longitudinal trajectories of bicultural identity integration in recently immigrated Hispanic adolescents: Links with mental health and family functioning

This study examined, in a sample of recently immigrated Hispanic adolescents in Miami and Los Angeles, the extent to which bicultural identity integration (BII; involving the ability to synthesise one's heritage and receiving cultural streams and to identify as a member of both cultures) is best understood as a developmental construct that changes over time or as an individual‐difference construct that is largely stable over time. We were also interested in the extent to which these trajectories predicted mental health and family functioning. Recent‐immigrant 9th graders (N = 302) were assessed 6 times from 9th to 12th grade. Latent class growth analyses using the first 5 timepoints identified 2 trajectory classes—one with lower BII scores over time and another with higher BII scores over time. Higher heritage and US identity at baseline predicted membership in the higher BII class. At the 6th study timepoint, lower BII adolescents reported significantly poorer self‐esteem, optimism, prosocial behaviour and family relationships compared with their higher BII counterparts. These findings are discussed in terms of further research on the over‐time trajectory of biculturalism, and on the need to develop interventions to promote BII as a way of facilitating well‐being and positive family functioning.     

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. ACOAs exhibited similar levels of redemptive and contaminated imagery, and lower levels of agency in their narratives, relative to non-ACOAs. In addition, themes of redemption, contamination, and agency corresponded divergently with emotional functioning. Among ACOAs, narrative redemption and agency were related to poorer emotional functioning whereas, among non-ACOAs, narrative contamination predicted poorer emotional functioning. These findings provide indication of the manner in which ACOAs story their lives. They also align with the emerging area of research noting that, among certain vulnerable populations, redemptive and agentic imagery serve as predictors of maladaptive functioning.     

Media presentation of the mental health bill and representations of mental health problems

This paper discusses the findings of a study that examined the way in which the Mental Health Bill of June 2002 was presented in the British national and local media over a 3‐year period. A Lexis Nexis search yielded 256 articles, which were then analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. Overall, and perhaps contrary to what might have been expected given previous studies' conclusions regarding the media's negative portrayal of mental ill health, most articles tended to present a negative view of the Bill as unnecessarily repressive, and consequently were more sympathetic towards mental heath service clients, although this was not the case for tabloid articles. However, this paper then considers the more implicit representations found within the articles. It focuses particularly on the continued linking of mental ill health and violence, and also on the way in which the mental health service user might be portrayed as passive and rather pitiful as an alternative to violent and dangerous. It is suggested that the continued use of such images may stem from the fact that mental health problems have long been constructed as ‘Other’, and are therefore deeply engrained in our society. The implications of this for anti‐stigma campaigns are briefly discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The link between involuntary non-regular employment and poor mental health: A cross-sectional study of Japanese workers

Involuntary non-regular employment is a severe inequity problem worldwide, and it may significantly affect the mental health of employees. The present study aimed to examine the relationship between employment type and mental health. Additionally, the characteristics of involuntary non-regularly employed workers were explored. An online-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Japan, and 1566 participants were included in the data analysis. The eligible participants were divided into four categories: regularly employed (n = 1092), voluntary (n = 134), average (n = 233) and involuntary (n = 107) non-regularly employed individuals, respectively. Involuntary non-regular employment was associated with greater lack of vigour, anger-irritability, fatigue, anxiety, and depression. It was higher among women, those who were single or had no childcare, and those who had lower personal income or shorter working hours, or who tended not to practice relaxation activities. Lower personal income was associated with a risk of anxiety and depressive symptoms. Those individuals experiencing involuntary non-regular employment had a higher risk of poor mental health; subgroup analysis showed that this was particularly true among men. Both encouragement of employment stability via policy reform and workplace mental health support for involuntary non-regularly employed individuals are urgent health concerns.     

Sleep-competing behaviours among Australian school-attending youth: Associations with sleep,mental health and daytime functioning

Sleep problems are highly prevalent among school-attending youth, and impact on school performance and outcomes. Sleep-competing behaviours are likely factors in the inadequate sleep time and related functional outcomes observed in this population. We examined a range of sleep-competing behaviours and their associations with sleep variables in Australian school-attending youth. We also assessed whether these behaviours indirectly affected mental health and daytime functioning through poorer sleep quality. A total of 353 school-attending youth (mean age = 14.6 years, 53% female) were recruited from high schools in Australia, and completed a range of self-report measures. Approximately 50% of the youth obtained sub-optimal levels of sleep and reported having a problematically long sleep onset latency. Sleep competing behaviours, related and unrelated to electronic media use, were reported as occurring frequently, and were associated with a range of sleep variables. These behaviours were also related to poorer mental health and daytime sleepiness, with this association explained by indirect effects through sleep quality. Sleep-competing behaviours are prevalent on school nights in Australian youth, and may have adverse associations with mental health and functioning. Prevention and intervention programs might address the risk factors identified in the current study.     

The empirical relationships between standardized measures of religiosity and personality/mental health

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between standardized, factor-based measures of religiosity and personality/mental health. In a sample of 471 self-identified Christian subjects, 303 females and 168 males, 79 non-psychotic psychiatric in-patients and 392 non-patients, personal extrinsicness was partially positively correlated with the BCI Obsessive score. In multiple regression analyses some of the factor-based religious orientation indices related differently to the BCI Oral, Obsessive and Hysterical Scales and the SCL-90 Global Symptom Index as dependent variables. The religious orientations explained 8.8% of the variance of the BCI Oral Score, 4.2% of the BCI Obsessive score, 3.3% of the BCI Hysterical score, and 12.3% of the SCL-90 Global Symptom Index score. Of the doctrinal belief and morality indices only Moral conservatism was significantly related to the BCI Hysterical score, and then negatively.