Vicarious life stories: Examining relations to personal life stories and well-being
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We examined relationships between vicarious life stories for mothers and distant others, personal life stories, and well-being. Participants described chapters in their mothers’ and personal life stories, self-rated chapters on emotional tone and meaning, and completed well-being measures. In Studies 3 and 4, participants described chapters for distant others. In Study 4, mothers’ personal life stories were collected. In Studies 2–4, chapters were coded for redemption, agency, and communion. Qualities of vicarious and personal life stories were positively related, except for ex-boy/girlfriends (Study 4). Vicarious life stories were less positive and were less consistently related to well-being than personal life stories. Vicarious life stories for mothers were positively related to both participants’ personal life stories and mothers’ personal life stories.
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Researchers now examine interpersonal narratives, including vicarious narratives and relationship narratives.
“Researchers now examine interpersonal narratives, including vicarious narratives (stories we tell about other people) and relationship narratives (stories we tell about our relationships with other people) (Dunlop, Bühler, et al., 2020; Kirkegaard Thomsen et al., 2020).”
From Narrative identity in the psychosis spectrum: A systematic review and developmental model (2021) · cites this paper as Kirkegaard Thomsen et al., 2020
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Narrative identity in the psychosis spectrum: A systematic review and developmental model
Cowan, H. R., Mittal, V. A., & McAdams, D. P. (2021) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2021.102067 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
- Authors
- Kirkegaard Thomsen, D., Panattoni, K., Allé, M. C., Bro Wellnitz, K., & Pillemer, D. B.
- Affiliations
- Aarhus University (DK)
- Inserm (FR)
- University of New Hampshire (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Research in Personality
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2020-10
- Volume
- 88
- Pages
- 103991
- ISSN
- 0092-6566 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3042412944
- Cited by
- 14
- References
- 67
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 5
- FWCI
- 2.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- pure.au.dk
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Research in Personality (publishedVersion)
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Velux Fonden
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Identity, Memory, and Therapy
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Keywords
- personal life story, well-being, mothers, distant others, redemption, agency, communion, emotional tone, meaning, romantic relationships
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