A Narrative Inquiry: Reflection of Life Experiences

Narrative research is an evolving methodology that has been utilized in research and clinical practice. This study seeks to understand how the structure of narratives predict psychological well-being and mood and to examine how processing information in narrative form immediately affects respondents. A survey was created on Qualtrics and through an all-student email and social media, a recruitment script was advertised for individuals 18 years or older and English-speaking. In this randomized, between-subject design, we gathered 289 complete datasets where one of three randomly assigned prompts asked the participant to write about a positive or negative event or list the foods they recently consumed. All narratives were coded for agency by the first author and one independent rater. Results indicated that participants who wrote about a positive life experience had higher levels of positive mood and agentic features. Further, higher levels of agency were associated with specific aspects of psychological well-being. The type of memory one recalls therefore may be beneficial for not only the self, but for relationships with others.