Examining Self in Five YearOlds' Personal Stories: A Narrative Analysis of Coherence

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Examining Self in Five- Year-Olds' Personal
Stories A Narrative Analysis of Coherence

• Taryn Bellgard
• Hanover College

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Narrative Theory

• People make sense of the world through stories
  (Mischler, 1986)
• The self is viewed as socially constructed and
  formed through shared language (DeSocio, 2005)
• Self is seen as an unfolding reflective
  awareness of being-in-the-world (Ochs Capps,
  1996)

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Defining Narrative Coherence

• A narrative is clearly constructed and organized
  (Fiese Sameroff, 1999)
• A narrative has all of the necessary information
  for the listener (Abbema Bauer, 2005)

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Analyzing Narrative Coherence

• Ideal Story Structure
• Has a formal beginning and ending
• Includes a goal-directed plot with a rising
  action and falling action (Hudson, Gebelt,
  Haviland, Bentivegna, 1992)
• Basic Story Components
• who, what, where, when, how, and why (Abbema
  Bauer, 2005)

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Narratives with Children

• Narrative analysis of 8-year-olds self-talk
• Drew self-portrait while describing oneself to a
  familiar adult (Uszynska-Jarmoc, 2004)
• Case study of 8-year-old
• Therapy included a storybook about the childs
  life to help him adjust to foster care (DeSocio,
  2005)

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Why 5-year-old children?

• By the age of five, children typically have
• Self-awareness as a distinct individual (DeSocio,
  2005)
• A Theory of Mind (Kleinknecht Beike, 2004)
• Control of language (DeSocio, 2005)
• Narrative skill (Kleinknecht Beike, 2004)
• Autobiographical memory (DeSocio, 2005 Nelson,
  1992)

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Research Question

• How do 5-year-old children create coherent
  narratives about the self?

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Participants

• Seven 5-year-olds (3 female, 4 male)
• All currently or previously enrolled in a single
  rural mid-western preschool
• Informed consent and basic background obtained
  from parents

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Data Collection Storybook Session

• Lasted 40 minutes to 1 hour
• Audio recorded and later transcribed
• Each child was asked to create a storybook with
  the researcher using five story prompts
• Family
• Event
• Relationship
• Emotion
• Future

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Data Analysis Story Coherence

• A story consisted of any stretch of talk made by
  the child from the time the story topic was
  stated until the next topic was stated
• Coded each story for components of who, what,
  where, when, how, and why?
• Totaled components of each question

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Beths Event Story

• T do you want to tell a story about the day you
  lost your tooth?
• B drawing me / Im just drawing my school
• B I bumped a tooth
• B and then when I woke up one day the tooth
  fairy got me a toy horse and money
• B I was very surprised
• B my mom and dad were very happy that I lost my
  tooth
• B I was happy too

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Narrative Analysis
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Beths Event Story

• T do you want to tell a story about the day you
  lost your tooth?
• B drawing me / Im just drawing my school
• B I bumped a tooth
• B and then when I woke up one day the tooth
  fairy got me a toy horse and money
• B I was very surprised
• B my mom and dad were very happy that I lost my
  tooth
• B I was happy too

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From Coherence to Self

• Fully coherent stories offer perspective
• The childs point of view
• Awareness of being-in-the-world (Ochs Capps,
  1996)
• Fully coherent stories demonstrate how young
  children can portray their understanding of
  experiences through personal narratives