Meaning Making in the Life Story, and Not Coherence or Vividness, Predicts Well-Being up to 3 Years Later: Evidence From High Point and Low Point Stories

A longitudinal investigation of the meaning-making model in midlife adults who have experienced trauma

INTRODUCTION

Park and Folkman's (1997) meaning-making model posits that distress from traumatic events stems from discrepancies between one's global meaning framework and appraised situational meaning of the traumatic event, with meaning making diminishing these discrepancies and thus bolstering well-being. The current study investigates this supposition over a 19-year span in mid-life adults.

METHODS

We selected participants from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study who had indicated the experience of a negatively impactful traumatic event (N = 1687). We hypothesized that increased positive reappraisal (a type of meaning making) would have an indirect effect on positive and negative affect through the three dimensions of meaning in life (significance, coherence, and purpose).

RESULTS

All direct and indirect effects were significant and supported hypotheses.

CONCLUSION

Results suggest that the assertions of the meaning-making model hold true over a period of nearly two decades among mid-life adults who have experienced traumatic events.

Redemption in a single low point story longitudinally predicts well-being: The incremental validity of life story elements

OBJECTIVE

Extending research on the incremental validity of life story variables and the importance of particular kinds of story contexts, this paper tested the hypothesis that a single theme (narrative redemption) in a specific life story episode (the low point-or an episode that challenges the self) can predict well-being, above and beyond covariates.

METHOD

Two samples, an emerging adult (N = 144) and a late midlife sample (N = 158), provided life story episodes with different life story collection methods (written and interview) and completed self-report measures concurrently and longitudinally.

RESULTS

The findings indicated that low point redemption was associated concurrently and longitudinally with well-being when controlling for the Big Five factors of Extraversion and Neuroticism and narrative word count. These associations held for three months among emerging adults and four years among late midlife adults. Aggregating redemption in high and low points did not improve the concurrent or longitudinal association between redemption and well-being.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings demonstrate the capacity of elements in a single challenging episode of the life story to predict well-being.