| Research Abstract |
The objective of the present study was to understand self-identity in the context of the self-narrative by adopting the self-narrative method (Enomoto,2002). This method was developed from the standpoint of self-narrative psychology, under the assumption that self-identity is preserved in the form of self-narrative (Enomoto, 1999;2004 et al.). First, the methodology of the self-narrative method was examined ; second, self-narrative data from different age groups were accumulated ; and third, the theoretical framework concerning the significance of telling a story about one's self, an essential component in applying the self narrative method, was investigated. Consecutive semi-structured self-narrative interviews (Enomoto,2002;2004) were performed 4 times within a year to the adolescent group, the middle-age group, and the old-age group. Questionnaires related to self-identity (i.e. "Attitude Towards Life Scale" (Enomoto,2004), "Attitude Towards One's Past Scale" (Enomoto & Yokoi,2000),
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"Self-Esteem Scale" (Yamamoto, Matsui, and Yamanari, 1982), and the "Multidimensional Ego Identity Scale" (Tani,2001)) were administered during the first and last interviews, and the results of these self-related scales were compared to the data obtained from the narrative method to identify the advantages of the qualitative approach.
A methodological investigation of the self-narrative method as a means to examine self-identity was pursued based on the narrative data. The following results were obtained. First, it was confirmed that tracing the recollections of major episodes in successive order, starting from the initial memory towards infancy, childhood and the present, is a valid procedure ; second, typical patterns of story-telling (Enomoto,2004) were identified ; third, attempts were made to grasp the characteristics of the individual identity through self-narrative analysis based on the story-telling patterns mentioned above ; and lastly, it was confirmed that the self-narrative method enables a more comprehensive understanding of self-identity compared to the results obtained by questionnaires.
This study confirms the validity of the self-narrative method, and supports the view that defining the context of the self-narrative according to the chronological order of the recollected episodes is the way to assess self-identity, thus verifying the validity of self-narrative psychology. Less
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