Browsing by Subject "Discourse analysis, Narrative -- Psychological aspects"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    Bicultural Identity Exploration
    (2011) Dhadvai, Sandeep; Lilgendahl, Jennifer
    This study sought to understand the process by which people formulate their bicultural identity as measured by BII. The narrative approach was utilized to investigate positive exploration as the process by which people form optimally integrated bicultural identities. Openness to experience and parental autonomy support were also tested as predictors of both exploration and BII. Participants in this study completed measures of demographics, BII, parental autonomy support, personality, and openness to experience facets before completing family and college narratives about bicultural identity exploration. Results indicated the presence of a relationship between openness to experience and both exploration and BII. Parental autonomy support was also predictive of BII. Analysis of the narratives showed correlations between exploration in both settings and also a relationship between past event valence and conclusion valence in both narratives. Being multiracial was the only predictor of positive exploration.
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    Bicultural Identity Exploration: Examining Bicultural Identity Exploration through Narratives
    (2011) Sadarangani, Sneha; Lilgendahl, Jennifer
    Bicultural students from Haverford College were assessed for their level of identity exploration and Bicultural Identity Integration (BII). Participants were required to provide narratives of two experiences that triggered exploration of their bicultural identity within two different contexts, the family and college environment. Their level of exploration was evaluated from their narratives and correlated with their score on the BII scale. We predicted that participants who exhibited high exploration and a positive resolution at the end of their narrative would have high BII. Also, participants who exhibited openness to experience would have high BII and this would be mediated by positive narrative exploration. Moreover, high parental autonomy support would be correlated with high BII and this would be mediated by positive narrative exploration. However, the data failed to support our primary hypothesis and we were unable to find a relationship between BII and narrative exploration. Since we were unable to prove our mediation hypothesis, we were unable to effectively analyze the other two main hypotheses. However, we found some significant correlations. Openness and maternal autonomy support were both correlated with narrative exploration and greater negative affect in the college narratives was associated with lower BII.
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    Bicultural Identity Exploration: Narrating Identity Exploration in Family and College Contexts
    (2011) Vickery, Simon; Lilgendahl, Jennifer
    The present study examined the relationship between identity exploration and Bicultural Identity Integration in narratives from family and college contexts. We hypothesized that higher levels of identity exploration and positive narrative endings would be associated with higher levels of Bicultural Identity Integration, and that this relationship would be mediated in part by Parental Autonomy Support and Openness to experience. We did not find statistical support for the relationship between identity exploration and Bicultural Identity Integration; however, we found that Openness and maternal Autonomy Support were associated with BII Harmony, and limited support for a positive relationship between Openness and identity exploration. These results may indicate that a portion of the bicultural individuals in our sample were experiencing identity foreclosure. It is also possible that our study was limited by methodological errors and small sample size. The utility of linguistic analysis using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count program is discussed.
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    Repressive Coping and Negative Events: Emotional Processing in Narrative Identity
    (2011) Ardila, Christina; Lilgendahl, Jennifer
    Repressive copers are characterized by low levels of trait anxiety and high levels social desirability. They actively avoid attending to, processing, and recalling, emotionally triggering self-threatening stimuli. Though recent work has explored repressive coping at the narrative level specifically, the purpose of our study was to assess the effects of repressive coping on well-being and transformational processing at both the narrative level and in daily processing. Furthermore we explored the relationship between daily coping and narrative level coping. Our study was comprised of self-report measures and included a personality survey component, a seven-day daily component, and a narrative component. We found the narratives of repressive copers were significantly positively related with a more positive ending. Likewise repressors were less likely to think about negative events at the daily level and were less impacted by negative events in their daily moods. From this we found daily thinking mediated the relationship between repressive coping and narrative ending. In regards to well-being, we found repressors maintained higher levels of life satisfaction and eudiamonic well-being. These connections may suggest repressive coping may be a pervasive and engrained personality characteristic that impacts the processing of both minor and major life events, and furthermore the development of personal identity.
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    Repressive Coping and Negative Events: Emotional Processing in Narrative Identity and Daily Life
    (2011) Connochie, Daniel M.; Lilgendahl, Jennifer
    Given the debate in the literature surrounding repressive coping, its relative benefits and detriments, and the cognitive mechanism in which it manifests itself, the current study examined this personality type in relation to processing of events, both daily events and the narrative processing of major life events. After an initial survey which included measures repressive coping, participants completed surveys each night for a week which asked them to examine positive and negative events in their day, assessing how much these events affected them, how they coped with negative events, and what their overall daily affect was. For the second part of the study, participants came into the lab to complete narratives of a positive event and a negative event, as well as measures of coping strategies (the same measure used in daily sampling), hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Narratives were coded for exploration, positive ending, growth, and memory specificity. It was found that repressive copers have more positive endings to their narratives, think about daily negative events less, have less daily negative affect, and report higher overall well-being. Discussion centers around repressors' avoidance of negative information about themselves, and well-being at the daily and narrative levels of event processing.
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    Repressive Coping and Negative Events: Emotional Processing of Difficult Events through Narrative
    (2011) Jordan, Molly; Lilgendahl, Jennifer
    This study used narratives of difficult life events in combination with a daily sampling method to understand repressive coping on daily and long term levels. The connections between repressive coping, transformational processing (as defined by growth, exploration, and positive ending), and well-being were explored to see if repressive coping had an effect on well-being or an individual's narrative identity. Coping strategies for daily negative events were examined to see if repressors utilized specific strategies for daily coping. Results indicated that there was no correlation between growth or exploration and repressive coping, although there was a positive correlation for positive ending mediated by a lack of thought by negative events. However, against all hypotheses, repressive coping was significantly correlated with all measured forms of well-being. Finally, repressive coping was negatively correlated with all coping strategies, indicating an overall lack of processing of negative events.
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    Repressive Coping and Negative Life Events: The Outcomes of Affective Style on Daily and Narrative Processing
    (2011) Carpenter, Joseph; Lilgendahl, Jennifer
    Both regulating negative emotion and confronting it in a structured and positive manner have been associated with positive psychological outcomes. This study sought to investigate what sort of balance between regulating and acknowledging such affect is healthiest by looking at the relationship between a repressive coping style, reaction to daily life stressors and the narrative processing of a difficult life event. By looking at these relationships it also examined the degree to which there are distinct psychological channels for processing negative events at the level of short-term responses and the long-term construction of a narrative identity. Results showed that a repressive coping style was largely unrelated to narrative processing, except that repressors narrative contained more positive resolution. This relationship was mediated (at the marginally significant level) by the effect of daily stressors on thinking, suggesting that similar affective tendencies effect processing of events at different levels. In addition, generally reacting less strongly to negative events was associated with more growth and positive resolution in narratives, demonstrating that avoiding negativity at the day to day level is associated with positive outcomes beyond daily affect.