Agency and Communion When Remembering Parents in Young Adulthood

Document Type

Book Chapter

Source of Publication

Autobiographical Memory and the Life Story

Publication Date

11-20-2025

Abstract

Parental shared reminiscing and positive parenting are important for the development of autobiographical memory and narrative identity. Yet, even though parents influence the content and structure of narrative identity throughout the lifespan (Camia et al., 2021; Köber & Habermas, 2018), it is understudied whether narrative themes such as agency and communion are associated with experienced parenting and whether this sustains beyond early childhood. Therefore, we investigated the influence of parenting on agency and communion in life stories provided at ages 26 and 32. Narratives with and without parental topics scored similarly on agency and communion. However, agency in narratives with mentions of parents was supported by an increased understanding of parents and by opposing parents’ advice. Communion in narratives mentioning parents was supported by positive evaluations of the parental relationship and by an increased understanding of parents. These results suggest that parents not only are part of the content of personal narratives but also influence narrative themes well into adulthood.

ISBN

9781009492140

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

First Page

176

Last Page

195

Disciplines

Psychology

Keywords

Identity, Memory, and Therapy, Qualitative research in health, Autobiographical and Biographical Writing

Indexed in Scopus

no

Open Access

no

Link to Full Text

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