Generational differences in cultural life scripts and life story memories of younger and older adults

TLDR

Participants across two generations listed their top seven life events and expected timing for a hypothetical person, identified their own seven most important life story memories, rated these on valence, and completed measures of depression, life satisfaction, and event centrality. Both generations shared a stable life script with a peak of positive events in adolescence and early adulthood, but older adults’ scripts were more realistic and less idealized, and the correspondence between script events and personal memories grew with age; moreover, a negative event central to one’s life story was associated with lower life satisfaction and, in younger adults, higher depression. © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract

Abstract Groups of younger and older participants produced cultural life scripts by listing the seven most important life events and the expected timing of these events for a hypothetical person. They also produced the seven most important life story memories from their own lives. Cultural life scripts and life story memories were rated on valence. Scales on depression, satisfaction with life, and the centrality of an event for identity and the life story were administered. A stable cultural life script was found across the two generations, with a clear bump for positive events in adolescence and early adulthood. However, older adults produced a more realistic, less idealized life script than younger adults. The overlap between life script events and life story memories increased with age. Having a negative event central to one's life story and identity was related to less life satisfaction and, in the young group, higher depression scores. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.