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Adolescents' intergenerational narratives across cultures
Elaine Reese1, Robyn Fivush2, Natalie Merrill2
1Department of Psychology.
Developmental Psychology
|April 18, 2017
Summary
Adolescents share stories about parents' childhoods to build identity. Cultural differences influence how these intergenerational narratives connect teens to their heritage and shape self-understanding.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Cross-Cultural Psychology
- Sociology
Background:
- Adolescents' intergenerational narratives are crucial for identity development.
- Understanding cultural variations in these narratives is key to comprehending identity formation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore how adolescents from different cultural backgrounds in New Zealand construct intergenerational narratives.
- To examine cultural differences in identity connections, narrative coherence, and reasons for storytelling.
Main Methods:
- Adolescents (aged 12-21) from Chinese, Māori, and European cultural groups in New Zealand narrated stories about their parents' childhoods.
- Narratives were analyzed for identity connections, coherence, didactic vs. historical reasons, and subjective perspectives.
Main Results:
- Chinese and Māori adolescents showed more identity connections and coherence than European adolescents.
- Chinese adolescents' narratives were more coherent; Māori and Chinese adolescents cited didactic reasons more often than Europeans.
- Adolescent girls and older adolescents used more subjective perspective terms, particularly in mother narratives.
Conclusions:
- Intergenerational narratives serve diverse functions across cultures in adolescent identity exploration.
- These narratives may be particularly significant for adolescents in interdependent cultures.
- Cultural context significantly shapes the content and function of intergenerational storytelling.
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