Abstract
This chapter is about when and how we begin to draw meaning from important events in our lives. Although children may indeed “wake up” to a new level of self-reflection in adolescence, we will argue that these newfound realizations are built upon experiences and capacities that have been developing from early childhood. We will also propose that the ability to draw meaning from life events is present much earlier in development than previously assumed, at the very latest by early adolescence, and possibly even earlier.
You know when you were younger how everything seems so like happy and stuff? (Uh huh) You kind of wake up.
(11-year old telling a researcher about a life-changing event)
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Notes
- 1.
All names in conversational excerpts are pseudonyms.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Shelley MacDonald and William Friedman for allowing us to use their datasets in the preparation of this chapter. We also thank Naomi White for her help with coding.
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Reese, E., Yan, C., Jack, F., Hayne, H. (2010). Emerging Identities: Narrative and Self from Early Childhood to Early Adolescence. In: McLean, K., Pasupathi, M. (eds) Narrative Development in Adolescence. Advancing Responsible Adolescent Development. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-89825-4_2
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