The life story from age 26 to 32: Rank-order stability and mean-level change.

OBJECTIVE: In this longitudinal, mixed-methods project, the primary focus was to examine the rank-order stability and mean-level change in the life story during the period of emerging adulthood to young adulthood, while also investigating how the transition to parenthood may impact the life story. METHOD: Seventy-two participants described three key life story scenes at age 26 and again at 32 (28% attrition from age 26 to 32). The narratives were coded for a range of features, including motivational themes (agency, communion), affective themes (emotional tone), an integrative meaning theme (coherent positive resolution), and a structural property (narrative complexity). RESULTS: Overall, there was moderate temporal stability and mean-level increase in several features of narrative identity over this key period. Positive changes in communion levels and overall emotional tone of life story scenes were especially evident for new parents at age 32. CONCLUSIONS: These longitudinal results suggested that adopting new social roles, in this case becoming a parent, predicted how the life story was expressed, just as they seemed to influence other levels of personality, such as traits, following the social investment principle.

The Authoritarian Personality in Emerging Adulthood: Longitudinal Analysis Using Standardized Scales, Observer Ratings, and Content Coding of the Life Story.

Three different methods (a standardized scale, an observer-based Q-sort, and content coding of narratives) were used to study the continuity of authoritarianism longitudinally in emerging and young adults. Authoritarianism was assessed in a Canadian sample (N = 92) of men and women at ages 19 and 32 with Altemeyer's (1996) Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) Scale. In addition, components of the authoritarian personality were assessed at age 26 through Q-sort observer methods (Block, 2008) and at age 32 through content coding of life stories. Age 19 authoritarianism predicted the Q-sort and life story measures of authoritarianism. Two hierarchical regression analyses showed that the Q-sort and life story measures of authoritarianism also predicted the RWA scale at age 32 beyond educational level and parental status, and even after the inclusion of age 19 RWA. Differences and similarities in the pattern of correlates for the Q-sort and life story measures are discussed, including the overall lack of results for authoritarian aggression. Content in narratives may be the result of emerging adult authoritarianism and may serve to maintain levels of authoritarianism in young adulthood.

Environmentalism as a context for expressing identity and generativity: patterns among activists and uninvolved youth and midlife adults.

Previous qualitative studies have identified themes of generativity and identity development in the interviews of environmental activists (Chan, 2009; Horwitz, 1996), suggesting their importance as motives for environmental behavior. The purpose of our study was to extend this work by identifying positive relationships between identity maturity, generativity, and environmentalism using quantitative methodologies. To explore these relationships, we designed quasi-experimental and correlational studies. We recruited 54 environmental activists and 56 comparison individuals, half of whom were youth (mean age = 22 years) and the other half midlife adults (mean age = 43 years). Sixty-three percent of our sample was female. Participants completed several environmental, generativity, and identity questionnaires. We found that activists and comparison individuals differed on the identity maturity, generativity, and environmental measures overall. Further, greater identity maturity and generativity were associated with higher environmental engagement. And generativity was found to mediate the relation between identity maturity and environmentalism. Our findings suggest that engaging in generative behaviors may be an important part of the process in forming an environmental identity and engaging in environmental actions.