Gender Differences in Adolescents’ Autobiographical Narratives

Abstract

In this study, the authors examined gender differences in narratives of positive and negative life experiences during middle adolescence, a critical period for the development of identity and a life narrative (Habermas & Bluck, 2000 Habermas , T. , & Bluck , S. ( 2000 ). Getting a life: The emergence of the life story in adolescence . Psychological Bulletin , 126 , 748 – 769 .[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; McAdams, 2001 McAdams , D. P. ( 2001 ). The psychology of life stories . Review of General Psychology , 5 , 100 – 122 .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). Examining a wider variety of narrative meaning-making devices than previous research, they found that 13- to 16-year old racially and economically diverse females told more elaborated, coherent, reflective, and agentic narratives than did adolescent males. There were surprisingly few differences between narratives of positive and negative events. These findings replicate and extend previous findings of gender differences in autobiographical narratives in early childhood and adulthood and indicate that gender is a critical filter through which personal memory and identity are constructed during adolescence.