Supporting Adolescent Identity Development through Personal Narratives

ClaudiaVlaicu
Ph. D. Lecturer, Faculty of Orthodox Theology and Educational Sciences, Carol J, No. 2 Boulevard, 130024, Targoviste, Romania
CameliaVoicu
Assist.Lecturer,Faculty of Orthodox Theology and Educational Sciences, Carol J, No. 2 Boulevard, 130024, Targoviste, Romania

Abstract

Narrative Development in Adolescence is an essential resource for researchers, clinicians, and educators interested in studying developmental, clinical and school psychology. The need to establish a narrative self reaches an important peak during adolescence. This is the time when an adolescent tries to understand life events and establish their self-identity. The article is intended to examine narrative development during adolescence and argue for the importance of creating the narrative self; the study focuses on both stable and at-risk adolescents as they construct, organize, and tell their life stories and link them to larger developmental contexts as they grow to maturity. The study emphasizes the persuasive and emphatic function of literature. More specifically, the narrative psychology may be considered as a specific means of rethinking the adolescence- literature relation. The premise of the research is that The Self is situated at the center of “narrative gravity”. The development of the study involves relating core skills like reflection, meaning making, and decision making as well as crucial domains, including autonomy and moral agency evolving across normative adolescence to the narrative process. Our research methods included reading and narrative psychotherapy developed during counseling and adolescent literature classes performed in Romanian high schools. The results offer insights into the crucial task of identity development and explores new possibilities for adolescent counseling and therapy.

The conclusion of the study indicates that narrative approaches can be used effectively with adolescents to assist them in constructing positive life stories that can influence their identity formation.

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