Characteristics of Young Adults' Personal Religious Narratives and Their Relation with the Identity Status Model: A Longitudinal, Mixed Methods Study

Abstract

This longitudinal study investigated precursors to the formation of the life story in the particular context of the religious self in young adulthood using qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Religious or spiritual peak experience narratives told by 100 Canadian young adults at age 26 were examined in relation to earlier religious beliefs and identity statuses at ages 17, 19, and 23. Coherent relationships over time between identity status development and religious narratives supported a link between the development of a personal ego identity and characteristics of the life story, as expected. Overall, these findings suggest that the life story approach to identity development (McAdams, 2008 McAdams , D. P. ( 2008 ). Personal narratives and the life story . In O. John , R. Robins , and L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (3rd ed., pp. 241 – 261 ). New York , NY : Guilford Press . [Google Scholar]) can be illuminating in the domain of religious experience and can enrich Eriksonian models of identity.

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