Narrative structure and parental influence in career development

Abstract

In this paper, parental influence as retrospectively constructed through the narratives of young adults is examined. The narratives of 50 young adults (18-25 years of age) regarding the significant or critical events through which their parents influenced them in their career and life course were analysed in detail for narrative structure based on Gergen and Gergen's (1986) narrative macrostructure framework. Five narrative types were identified and are illustrated. These are the progressive narrative with a dramatic turning point, the progressive narrative within a positive evaluation frame, the progressive narrative, with negatively evaluated stages, the anticipated regressive narrative, the sad narrative. These narrative types provide both a useful way of understanding the role of parental influence in the career and life direction of young people and vivid examples of how they construct and reconstruct coherent stories of their goals, careers and lives in relation to their family of origin.