The International Journal of Reminiscence and Life Review

A Life Story from the Perspectives of Personality and Theology

Mary Ligon — 2021-07-05

My Word War II Experience: Part IV

George J. Dubell — 2021-07-05

Evoking Reminiscence in Nursing Home Residents with Indirect Cues

Linda A. Henkel — 2021-07-05

Reminiscing about the past can occur deliberately or spontaneously in response to either direct or indirect cues. The purpose of this study was to examine instances of reminiscence evoked by relatively indirect cues in interviews of older adult nursing home residents with varying levels of cognitive impairment and with young adults. Interview questions were based on structured themes drawn from models of functions of autobiographical memories (social/conversation, advice, historical reflection, identity). The interview offered opportunities for, but did not require, discussion of oneâ€™s autobiographical memories. Differences were examined between young and older adults in how often and when they reminisced as well as the content and qualities of their evoked memories. Results demonstrated more frequent indirectly-cued reminiscence by older adults than by young adults, with the greatest frequency of reminiscence occurring during a conversation task. Reminiscences tended to be direct responses to questions rather than tangential thoughts, contained more semantic than episodic content, and were more general than specific; however, specific reminiscences were indeed evoked. Based on these findings, we suggest that providing nursing home residents with opportunities to engage in casual conversations with specific yet indirect prompts may increase the frequency of reminiscence and provide an enhancement to more structured reminiscence activities and therapies.

Exploring Time Perspective and Narrative Coherence Links Between Identity Styles and Flourishing

Jeffrey Dean Webster — 2021-07-05

This study investigated the relationship between identity processing styles and psychological flourishing in relation to two under-examined variables in identity research, namely narrative awareness and a balanced time perspective. Participants (N = 205) ranged in age from 17 to 57 (M = 22.73, SD = 6.75) and completed the Identity Styles Inventory-5, Flourishing Scale, Awareness of Narrative Identity Questionnaire, and the modified Balanced Time Perspective Scale. Results indicated that the informational identity style was positively, and the diffused-avoidant identity style was negatively, correlated with flourishing. These associations were mediated by a balanced time perspective and narrative awareness. Results suggest that thinking about oneâ€™s past, present, and future in positive ways, as well as recognizing that identity can be adaptively construed in narrative terms, produce increases in psychological well-being over and above specific identity styles. Narrative awareness and time perspective, therefore, can provide novel insights in identity research.

Remember Me: Virtues in Self-Defining Memories Across Adulthood

Meghan McDarby — 2021-07-05

Self-defining memories help one describe the self to others. Identifying virtue (Peterson & Seligman, 2004) in self-defining memories connotes reflection on the self as embodying valued human characteristics. Virtues may be differentially identified in self-defining memories about the current self and memorialized self in young (18â€“28 years), middle (40â€“50 years), and older (60â€“72 years) adulthood. In this study, younger and older participants (N = 202) were randomly assigned to recall a self-defining memory in a current-self or a memorialized-self condition. They rated their self-defining memory for demonstration of five specific virtues. Unlike middle-aged and older adults, young adults reported more virtue in the memorialized-self condition than the current-self condition at the overall virtue level and across most individual virtues. Prioritization of normative developmental tasks and awareness of time left in life for self-development may motivate current-self or memorialized-self condition differences in identification of virtue in young adults compared to middle-aged and older adults.