Broadening our understanding of adversarial growth: The contribution of narrative methods

E. R. Blackie, Laura; Weststrate, Nic M.; Turner, Kit; Adler, Jonathan M.; McLean, Kate C.

Abstract

After adversity, individuals sometimes report adversarial growth - positive changes in their identity, relationships, and worldviews. We examined how narrative methods enhanced understanding of adversarial growth compared to standard questionnaires. Participants (N = 411) from college and community samples reported on their well-being, wrote a narrative about a highly challenging experience, and answered questionnaires on adversarial growth. Results showed that adversarial growth coded in narratives was positively associated with widely used self-report questionnaires of adversarial growth. Unexpectedly, narrative growth did not predict incremental validity in well-being outcomes compared to standard questionnaires. We found unique expressions of adversarial growth in a qualitative analysis of the narratives. We discuss the added value of using narratives for the assessment of adversarial growth.

Citation

E. R. Blackie, L., Weststrate, N. M., Turner, K., Adler, J. M., & McLean, K. C. (2023). Broadening our understanding of adversarial growth: The contribution of narrative methods. Journal of Research in Personality, 103, Article 104359. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2023.104359

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 16, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Feb 20, 2023
• Publication Date: Apr 1, 2023
• Deposit Date: Feb 24, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 24, 2023
• Journal: Journal of Research in Personality
• Print ISSN: 0092-6566
• Electronic ISSN: 1095-7251
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 103
• Article Number: 104359
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2023.104359
• Keywords: Adversarial growth; Posttraumatic growth; Narratives; Narrative identity
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/17664735
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092656623000211#ak005
• Additional Information: This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: Broadening our Understanding of Adversarial Growth: The Contribution of Narrative Methods; Journal Title: Journal of Research in Personality; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2023.104359; Content Type: article; Copyright: © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. Under a Creative Commons license