Narrative Interaction in Family Dinnertime Conversations

Reminiscing has been shown to be a critical conversational context for the development of autobiographical memory, self-concept, and emotional regulation (for a review, see Fivush, Haden, & Reese, 2006). Although much past research has examined reminiscing between mothers and their preschool children, very little attention has been given to family narrative interaction with older children. In the present study, we examined family reminiscing in spontaneous narratives that emerged during family dinnertime conversations. The results revealed that mothers contributed more to the narratives than did fathers in that they provided, confirmed, and negated more information, although fathers requested more information than mothers. In exploratory analyses, mothers’ contributions to shared family narratives were found to be related to fewer internalizing and externalizing behaviors in their children, while fathers’ contributions to individual narratives of day-today experiences were related to fewer internalizing and externalizing behaviors in their children. These results indicate that mothers and fathers may play different roles in narrative construction with their children, and there is some suggestion that these differences may also be related to children’s behavioral adjustment

Gender Differences In Elaborative Parent-Child Emotion And Play Narratives

Reminiscing about the past is an everyday activity that has implications for children\u27s developing memory and socioemotional skills. However, little research has systematically examined how mothers and fathers may differentially elaborate and engage their daughters and sons in reminiscing. In this study, we asked 42 broadly middle-class, highly educated U. S., mostly Caucasian mothers and fathers from the same families, living in the southeastern U. S., to reminisce about a happy, sad, peer conflict, parental conflict, playground and special outing experience with their 4-year-old child. Narratives were coded for parental styles of cognitive elaboration and joint engagement. Results indicated that mothers are both more elaborative and engaged with children than fathers are, especially about negative emotional and positive play experiences. Thus, mothers appear to be helping children recount and understand their personal past more than fathers, and specifically, in working through difficult emotions that may facilitate emotion regulation skills. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York

Stories Of Parents And Self: Relations To Adolescent Attachment

How individuals construct narratives involving attachment figures (e.g., parents) should reflect their representation of those individuals as either comforting or unsupportive (Bowlby, 1969). Similarly, how individuals talk about parents\u27 childhood experiences may also reflect their attachment representation. Sixty-five 13-to 16-year-old middle-class, diverse adolescents narrated 2 stories each from mother\u27s and father\u27s childhood, and 2 positive and negative personal experiences, all coded for coherence and emotions. As a measure of attachment, adolescents completed the Attachment Script Assessment, coded for attachment security (H. S. Waters & Rodrigues-Doolabh, 2001). Pearson\u27s correlations indicate secure adolescents told coherent and emotionally expressive narratives about mothers\u27 childhood but not fathers\u27; narratives about mothers\u27 experiences appear important for adolescents\u27 attachment. Secure adolescents also told thematically coherent negative but not positive personal narratives. Thus, secure adolescents do not tell all narratives coherently and emotionally; in this study, the relation between narratives and attachment is specific to intergenerational narratives. © 2013 American Psychological Association

Gastrointestinal functioning and menstrual cycle phase in emerging young adult women: a cross-sectional study

Abstract Background Women experience more severe gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms compared to men. The onset of puberty and the menstrual cycle may influence these differences. Additionally, health anxiety is an important construct that has been shown to play a role in increased symptomatology across many medical conditions. Using standardized clinical measures often employed to assess disorders of gut-brain interaction (DGBI) we aimed to identify differences of GI functioning across menstrual cycle phases and to evaluate the role of health anxiety in this relationship. Methods Six hundred three participants completed a survey including functional GI assessment scales (PROMIS-GI®), an abdominal pain scale and map, and a health anxiety measure. They were grouped by menstrual cycle phases (Menses, Follicular, Early-Luteal, and Premenstrual) based on self-reported start date of most recent period. Multivariate analyses of covariance were conducted to identify differences between menstrual cycle phase and scores on the symptom scales. Heath anxiety was included as a covariate in all analyses. Results No significant differences were found between menstrual cycle group and PROMIS-GI scores. Higher GI-symptom and pain levels were found as health anxiety increased. Pain in the hypogastric region of the abdomen was significantly higher during the Menses phase when compared to Early-Luteal and Premenstrual phases. A subset of participants with DGBI diagnoses demonstrated significantly higher GI-symptom severity on several PROMIS-GI scales when compared to matched controls who did not have those diagnoses. In addition, participants with DGBI diagnoses reported significantly greater pain across multiple abdominal regions than their non-diagnosed counterparts. Conclusions GI symptom levels as measured by the PROMIS-GI scales in otherwise healthy women were not dependent on menstrual cycle phase. Yet, the PROMIS-GI scales were sensitive to symptom differences in women with DGBI diagnoses. Overall, this study demonstrated that the PROMIS-GI measures are unlikely to be affected by gynecological functioning in healthy young women. We argue that the abdominal pain map is an essential addition to classification and diagnosis

Gender Differences in Adolescents\u27 Autobiographical Narratives

In this study, the authors examined gender differences in narratives of positive and negative life experiences during middle adolescence, a critical period for the development of identity and a life narrative (Habermas & Bluck, 2000; McAdams, 2001). Examining a wider variety of narrative meaning-making devices than previous research, they found that 13- to 16-year old racially and economically diverse females told more elaborated, coherent, reflective, and agentic narratives than did adolescent males. There were surprisingly few differences between narratives of positive and negative events. These findings replicate and extend previous findings of gender differences in autobiographical narratives in early childhood and adulthood and indicate that gender is a critical filter through which personal memory and identity are constructed during adolescence

Gender Differences In Adolescent Birth Narratives

Birth stories are a crucial autobiographical narrative for anchoring the life story. Yet they are not personally recalled, but received knowledge, and are therefore unique in that they occupy an intermediary role between family history and stories of self. Despite this theoretical significance, they have remained largely unexamined, especially from the perspective of the child. In this study, we examined birth narratives from 61 mostly white, broadly middle class adolescents from two-parent, opposite gender families, between the ages of 13 and 16. Based on previous research on gender differences in autobiographical narratives, the birth narratives were coded for elaboration, coherence, internal states, and connectedness. As predicted, females\u27 narratives were higher on all of these variables than were males\u27 narratives. We further examined relations between adolescents\u27 birth narratives and measures of family expressiveness and knowledge of family history. Adolescents with more connected stories containing more thoughts and emotions showed higher family expressiveness, and more elaborated, contextually coherent birth stories were related to more knowledge of family history. Limitations, applications, and suggestions for future research are discussed