The International Journal of Reminiscence and Life Review
https://journals.radford.edu/index.php/IJRLR
<p>The International Journal of Reminiscence and Life Review (IJRLR) publishes original work exploring the nature, function, and application of remembering the personal past within a wide range of research contexts and practice settings.</p>The International Center for Life Story Innovations and Practiceen-USThe International Journal of Reminiscence and Life Review2372-1790A Life Story from the Perspectives of Personality and Theology
https://journals.radford.edu/index.php/IJRLR/article/view/220
Mary Ligon
Copyright (c) 2021 The International Journal of Reminiscence and Life Review
2021-07-052021-07-0581My Word War II Experience: Part IV
https://journals.radford.edu/index.php/IJRLR/article/view/221
George J. Dubell
Copyright (c) 2021 The International Journal of Reminiscence and Life Review
2021-07-052021-07-0581Evoking Reminiscence in Nursing Home Residents with Indirect Cues
https://journals.radford.edu/index.php/IJRLR/article/view/214
<p>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 one’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.</p>Linda A. HenkelAlison KrisEmily Peters
Copyright (c) 2021 The International Journal of Reminiscence and Life Review
2021-07-052021-07-0581Exploring Time Perspective and Narrative Coherence Links Between Identity Styles and Flourishing
https://journals.radford.edu/index.php/IJRLR/article/view/217
<p>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 (<em>N</em> = 205) ranged in age from 17 to 57 (<em>M</em> = 22.73, <em>SD</em> = 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 one’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.</p>Jeffrey Dean Webster
Copyright (c) 2021 The International Journal of Reminiscence and Life Review
2021-07-052021-07-0581Remember Me: Virtues in Self-Defining Memories Across Adulthood
https://journals.radford.edu/index.php/IJRLR/article/view/218
<p>Self-defining memories help one describe the self to others. Identifying <em>virtue </em>(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 <em>current self</em> and <em>memorialized</em> <em>self </em>in young (18–28 years), middle (40–50 years), and older (60–72 years) adulthood. In this study, younger and older participants (<em>N</em> = 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.</p>Meghan McDarbyEmily MrozBrian D. CarpenterSusan Bluck
Copyright (c) 2021 The International Journal of Reminiscence and Life Review
2021-07-052021-07-0581