Storytelling Elaboration and Hope During COVID-19 Shutdowns: Ties with College Adults’ Psychosocial Adjustment

Abstract

This study considered the college adults’ ways reports of trait hope and expressions of fact-based elaboration in reflections about family- and friend-based perseverance—as individual differences relevant to life challenges and ongoing pursuit toward goals—were associated with multiple reports of psychosocial adjustment. These reports were collected against the backdrop of college closures and disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic—a time of major stress and uncertainty in daily life for college adults. Two-hundred thirty-three adults (M age = 19.35 years; 36.9% female) were recruited from a large, central US university to complete computerized tasks and measures in the spring of 2020, after in-person activities at the university had been closed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Expressions of elaboration were not directly associated with reports of well-being, mental health problems, or hope. Reports of hope were associated with greater well-being and fewer mental health problems. Interaction effects were supported for depressive and anxious symptoms. Students who were less hopeful and expressed more factual elaboration in life stories endorsed more mental health problems than peers. These findings point to additional nuances when considering the importance of narrative identity for psychosocial functioning and reinforce the importance of considering personality across multiple domains or levels (i.e., character, narrative identity).

Appendix

1.1 Example of a Narrative Higher in Factual Elaboration

I was on a mission trip in [City], Mexico almost 5 years ago now and I met a man named [name]. [Name] was a legend for miles around the village where we went and people treated him like a celebrity. He couldn't speak any English, but we were lucky enough to have someone with us that could translate effortlessly. He told us a story of how he had heard the gospel while traveling and that he tried to bring it to his hometown/village. I know it's going to sound made up, but his village had laws in place that said it as illegal to spread the word of Jesus in [City]. He said that he had to meet in secret and that eventually his group got big enough that they were caught by local “authorities.” By authorities he really just meant the group of men that were kind of in charge of the village of [Village]. He said these guys came in groups and restrained him hard enough that he had no control of his own body, they had picked him up and carried him into the basketball court they had set up in the middle of the village. By this point a large group of men had began to gather and a couple of them splattered gasoline on his clothes and were about to set him on fire. A group of real police showed up before they could and he was saved but they all told him he had to stop. Needless to say, while I was there working with him he definitely hadn't stopped. I look up to him for it and have to say that he is one of the most wonderful people I have met.

1.2 Example of a Narrative Higher in Interpretive Elaboration

About 7 months ago, one of my best friends passed away about a month into the semester. Prior to his death, I felt very optimistic about my future after having spent a couple years out of the loop of performing arts and academics. After he died, I began feeling less driven, less optimistic, and questioned the purpose of everything that I was doing. After sitting down with another friend who was also close to him, he explained to me that I shouldn't over analyze and overthink every aspect of life that create a standstill. You just have to do things, try things out, and see what happens. Even if the experience ends up being a negative one, there's something that you can take away from it, thus still serving a purpose in your life. I've continued to carry that philosophy with me today to mitigate any sense of pointlessness or lack in optimism of certain events, there’s always something you can take away from an experience.

1.3 Example of a Narrative Higher in Both Factual and Interpretive Elaboration

My father owns a lawn and landscape business back home. I have been working for him ever since I was old enough to ride on a lawn mower. As a father he always shared with me that without risk and hard work through perseverance comes nothing. At a young age he installed this type of mentality into my mind. As we know outside work is not easy especially when [US state] summers can be very hot. I remember being around the age of 16 working for my dad on one really hot summer day and it was toward the end of the day and I was exhausted. I didn't want to push myself any farther and just wanted to give up. I specifically remember my father coming up to me and telling me, “son whatever you start you must finish.” What my father told me that one day has stuck with me forever and I will never forget that. It has continue[d] to shape my life in a way that I never give up and when things hit the fan, because maybe you give up on something that you have been working forever to achieve and you never know maybe you are just a couple hours away from becoming successful on whatever it was you were trying to achieve. But if you had given up you would have never known.