Examining Relations between Aging,Life Story Chapters,and Well‐Being

Socio‐emotional selectivity theory holds that older age is associated with a sense of limited remaining time. We suggest that life story chapters may be involved in this experience. In this first study on the connection between socio‐emotional selectivity theory and chapters, we examined whether older age is associated with fewer, temporally less distant, and less positive future chapters. We also examined relations between chapters and subjective well‐being. Two samples (18–84 years) described past and future chapters and completed well‐being measures. Older age was associated with fewer, less temporally extended, and less positive future chapters. Less positive past chapters was most consistently related to lower subjective well‐being, but less positive future chapters also predicted lower subjective well‐being in some analyses. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Age and gender differences in negative affect—Is there a role for emotion regulation?

Elderly people report less negative affect than the young, and women report more negative affect than men. This study investigated whether age and gender differences in negative affect could be explained by emotion regulation, measured as defensiveness and rumination, while controlling for the influence of life events. One-hundred-and-ninety-five young (20–35 years) and 302 elderly (70–85 years) men and women completed the Emotional Control Questionnaire-Rehearsal, Marlowe–Crowne Social Desirability Scale, Profile of Mood States, Beck’s Depression Inventory and List of Recent Experiences. Hierarchical regressions with negative affects as dependent variables showed that age was reduced to non-significance when controlling for defensiveness, and gender was reduced to non-significance when controlling for the interaction between age and gender, which in turn was reduced when entering rumination. Life events also influenced the association between age and negative affect. The results indicate that age differences in negative affect are mediated by defensiveness and life events and that when these two influences are accounted for elderly people score higher on sadness. Gender differences in negative affect were due to the young women’s higher scores on negative affect and this is partly explained by rumination.     

Do people ruminate because they haven’t digested their goals? The relations of rumination and reflection to goal internalization and ambivalence

In three studies it was investigated whether rumination was related to less internalized self-regulation and goals and whether reflection was related to more internalized self-regulation and goals. In all studies students completed questionnaires measuring rumination, reflection, and internalization of self-regulation and goals. In Study 1, rumination was related to less internalized self-regulation, whereas reflection was related to more internalized self-regulation. In Study 2, rumination was related to less internalized self-regulation and goals as well as to more avoidance- and extrinsic content of goals. Reflection was related to more internalized self-regulation and goals as well as to less avoidance content of goals. In Study 3, goal-specific rumination was related to less internalized goals and goal-specific reflection was related to more internalized goals. Collectively, the studies suggest that internalization of self-regulation and goals is critical for distinguishing between unconstructive and constructive self-focused repetitive thoughts.     

Relationships among Personal Life Stories,Vicarious Life Stories about Mothers and Fathers,and Well-being

We examined whether vicarious life stories about mothers and fathers differed in their relationships with personal life stories and well-being. Seventy-six emerging adults completed scales measuring well-being and described three chapters in their personal, mothers’, and fathers’ life stories. Chapters were self-rated and content coded for emotional tone and positive/negative person change. Characteristics of personal life stories were positively correlated with characteristics of vicarious life stories for mothers and fathers. Personal life stories were higher on positive person change than vicarious life stories about mothers and fathers. Higher well-being was related to rating all three life stories as more positive, but results for content coding were more mixed. The results indicate that vicarious life stories for mothers and fathers are related in similar ways to personal life stories and well-being.     

Snapshots from therapy: exploring operationalisations and ways of studying flashbulb memories for private events

A total of 13 clients (10 women and 3 men, mean age 32.85 years, SD 10.50) were interviewed after finishing group therapy, and 7 were re-interviewed 4-5 months later. The clients recounted all the specific episodes they remembered from the therapy. The memories were classified as flashbulb memories or non-flashbulb memories according to two different criteria: consistency and phenomenological clarity. Clients had flashbulb memories from therapy according to both operationalisations. Flashbulb memories according to a phenomenology-based operationalisation referred to more unusual episodes and more often to episodes associated with insight than non-flashbulb memories. The consistency operationalisation did not differentiate between flashbulb and non-flashbulb memories with respect to characteristics of the remembered events. Number of remembered episodes was positively related to the subjective evaluation of the therapy.     

Functions of personal and vicarious life stories: identity and empathy

The present study investigates functions of personal and vicarious life stories focusing on identity and empathy. Two-hundred-and-forty Danish high school students completed two life story questionnaires: one for their personal life story and one for a close other’s life story. In both questionnaires, they identified up to 10 chapters and self-rated the chapters on valence and valence of causal connections. In addition, they completed measures of identity disturbance and empathy. More positive personal life stories were related to lower identity disturbance and higher empathy. Vicarious life stories showed a similar pattern with respect to identity but surprisingly were unrelated to empathy. In addition, we found positive correlations between personal and vicarious life stories for number of chapters, chapter valence, and valence of causal connections. The study indicates that both personal and vicarious life stories may contribute to identity.     

My partner’s stories: relationships between personal and vicarious life stories within romantic couples

In this paper, we examined relationships and differences between personal and vicarious life stories, i.e., the life stories one knows of others. Personal and vicarious life stories of both members of 51 young couples (102 participants), based on McAdams’ Life Story Interview (2008), were collected. We found significant positive relationships between participants’ personal and vicarious life stories on agency and communion themes and redemption sequences. We also found significant positive relationships between participants’ vicarious life stories about their partners and those partners’ personal life stories on agency and communion, but not redemption. Furthermore, these relationships were not explained by similarity between couples’ two personal life stories, as no associations were found between couples’ personal stories on agency, communion and redemption. These results suggest that the way we construct the vicarious life stories of close others may reflect how we construct our personal life stories.