Livshistorier fra usynlige unge: Et studie af den narrative identitet hos unge voksne fra misbrugsfamilier

Abstract

Objective: Narrative identity is the dynamic story that people construct to make sense of their experiences. The narrative identity integrates people storied past, their present as well as their expected future to bring meaning and purpose to their exist- ence. The narrative identity has been proven to correlate with measures of mental health issues and research on this area has been proven to bring insight into the psy- chological mechanisms related to well-being. This study sought to examine the nar- rative identity of two young adults from families where one or more of the primary caregivers has struggled with alcohol or substance abuse issues. The purpose of this study is to understand the way in which an upbringing in such a household influences the way young people construct their self-understanding through their narrative iden- tity. Method: To examine the research question, a mixed method approach was used through the quantitative coding and qualitative analysis of two semi-structured inter- views with the informants based on The Life Story Interview produced by Dan McAdams. The informants consisted of two young Danish adults from a local gym- nasium with fathers struggling with alcohol abuse issues who were asked to narrate their life story through chapters and important life scenes. The narrative coding was based on three domains of the narrative identity: structural elements, autobiograph- ical reasoning and affective and motivational themes including agency-, communion- and redemption themes. Findings: The analysis revealed inconsistent findings re- garding the structural elements when coding for context but found a general lower score for autobiographical reasoning through the measure of exploratory processing in the chapters and scenes describing the informants’ earlier childhood years. A low- er score for agency and communion themes were also found in the earlier parts of the informants’ life stories, whereas the chapters and scenes describing their adolescent years had higher scores, especially those regarding their peers and personal evolve- ment. The informants described their life scenes with a strong sense of redemption, and generally viewed their life stories as evolving positively. Implications: The analysis is based on case studies with diverse respondent characteristics, which may have implications for both the reliability and generalizability of the results. Overall, by shedding light on the lived experiences of young adults from families struggling with substance abuse, the research has the potential to inform interventions, chal- lenge societal attitudes, and contribute to our broader understanding of identity for- mation and resilience in the face of adversity.

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Livshistorier fra usynlige unge: Et studie af den narrative identitet hos unge voksne fra misbrugsfamilier

[Life stories from the invisible youth: A study of narrative identity in young adults from families struggling with substance abuse]