The development of narrative identity and the emergence of personality disorders in adolescence
Introduction
Adolescents spend considerable time and effort exploring and defining who they are as people; indeed, Erik Erikson argued that solving the crisis of identity versus role confusion is the pre-eminent developmental task of adolescence — a task that begins in adolescence and continues into adulthood [1]. One of the most critical ways that young people engage in identity development is by starting to narrate their lives as evolving stories, a domain of personality that McAdams and colleagues call narrative identity [2,3]. A narrative identity — or life story —integrates important past experiences, goals and values, and sense of meaning into a relatively coherent whole that can help direct individuals’ next steps in life [4,5]; it is this integrative function that sets narrative identity apart from other aspects of personality like traits and goals.
In this paper, we argue that narrative identity is likely to be important in the development of personality disorder in adolescence. Specifically, youth’s emerging narrative identities may express personality disturbances in self and relationship processes and may affect the consolidation of or recovery from PD in the transition to adulthood. The first author initially made this argument a decade ago [6], and in the intervening time, significant progress has been made in understanding both narrative identity and personality disorder (PD) in adolescence. Thus, in this update, we first summarize recent findings on narrative identity and highlight their relevance for PD in adolescence. Second, we review the as-yet limited studies linking PD with narrative identity in adolescence and early adulthood.
Section snippets
Narrative identity: recent findings and clinical implications for PD in adolescence
Life narratives are evolving stories about the self that contribute to a sense of identity, that is, they enable people to integrate their past experiences, as well as their current self and imagined future, into a more coherent whole; these stories of the self provide people with a sense of meaning and purpose [2,3]. Originally, researchers recommended comprehensive oral interviews to elicit narrative identities, though any combination of narrative length and format is possible [7••].
Preliminary evidence of links between narrative identity and personality disorders
Although there are compelling theoretical and empirical reasons to suspect that life narratives are important in PDs, only a handful of studies have examined the empirical links between the two. We review those here and offer sample narratives to illustrate the value in examining life narratives in relation to PD in adolescence.
Nearly all of the studies linking narrative identity and PD have focused on borderline PD (BPD). Identity disturbances are a hallmark feature of BPD and are included
Conclusions
Narrative identity offers a perspective on PD development in adolescence that considers youth’s life experiences and the ways that youth construct their overarching sense of self from those experiences. As the sample narratives in Box 1 demonstrate, adolescents’ life narratives offer rich material that is near to adolescents’ lived experiences, and these narratives reveal individual differences in the ways that youth construct their identities. Adolescent narrators vary in how they tell their
Conflict of interest statement
Nothing declared.
References and recommended reading
Papers of particular interest, published within the period of review, have been highlighted as:
• of special interest
•• of outstanding interest
Acknowledgements
Funding: This work was supported by a Vidi grant of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (grant number 452–14-013) awarded to Theo A. Klimstra.
References (40)
Identity development: dialogue between normative and pathological developmental approaches
J Pers Disord
(2014)- et al.
The distinguishing characteristics of narrative identity in adults with features of borderline personality disorder: an empirical investigation
J Pers Disord
(2012) Identity: Youth and Crisis
(1968)- et al.
A new Big five: fundamental principles for an integrative science of personality
Am Psychol
(2006) - et al.
Narrative identity
Curr Dir Psychol Sci
(2013) Narrative identity development across the lifespan and psychological well-being
- et al.
Narrative identity in adolescence and adulthood: pathways of development
The development of personality disorders: perspectives from normal personality development in childhood and adolescence
Dev Psychopathol
(2009)- et al.
Research methods for studying narrative identity: A primer
Soc Psychol Pers Sci
(2017) - et al.
Incorporating narrative identity into structural approaches to personality and psychopathology
J Res Pers
(2019)
Psychopathology and the self: Human actors, agents, and authors
J Pers
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Dimensional assessment of self- and interpersonal functioning in adolescents: implications for DSM-5’s general definition of personality disorder
J Pers Disord
Personality disorders in children and adolescents
Personality constructs and paradigms in the alternative DSM-5 model of personality disorder
J Pers Assess
The empirical structure of narrative identity: The initial Big Three
J Pers Soc Psychol
Developmental foundations of the narrative author in early mother-child reminiscing
Getting a life takes time: the development of the life story in adolescence, its precursors and consequences
Hum Dev
How stable is the personal past? Stability of most important autobiographical memories and life narratives across eight years in a life span sample
J Pers Soc Psychol
Personality pathology grows up: adolescence as a sensitive period
Curr Opin Psych
Cited by (10)
Can Narrative Skills Improve in Autism Spectrum Disorder? A Preliminary Study with Verbally Fluent Adolescents Receiving the Cognitive Pragmatic Treatment
2023, Journal of Psycholinguistic ResearchModeling and controlling the body in maladaptive ways: an active inference perspective on non-suicidal self-injury behaviors
2023, Neuroscience of ConsciousnessWhat makes Chinese adolescents “trapped” in severe mental illness? An interactionist perspective on self and identity
2023, International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-beingThe Relations between Narrative Identity and Personality Pathology among Clinical Adolescents: Findings from a Multi-Ethnic Asian Sample
2023, Journal of Personality Assessment