Repeated Narration within the Occupational Domain: Changing Characters in Identity-Defining Narratives

Abstract

The aim was to explore how young adults changed narration of characters in identity-defining repeated narratives. Repeated narratives from identity status interviews within the occupational domain were coded at age 25, 29 and 33, N = 46. A narrative thematic analysis generated six main themes with subthemes: (1) Adding characters to the story, (2) Removing characters from the story, (3) Alternating characters’ relevance over time, (4) Change of the way oneself is narrated as a character in the story, (5) Changing the same characters’ role over time, (6) Changing I and we interchangeably over time. These changes in the repeated narratives seemed highly important for the occupational identity to evolve.