Narrative processes across childhood

Abstract

According to the narrative perspective on personality development, personality is constructed largely by interpreting and representing experience in story format (scripts) over the course of the lifespan. The focus of this paper is to describe briefly the narrative perspective on personality development during childhood and adolescence, to discuss the developmental processes underlying narrative construction and to point to research and policy arenas in which this perspective may serve to enhance our understanding of child development. It is suggested that the further incorporation of the narrative perspective into models of child development may substantially increase our understanding of many developmental processes.