TY - JOUR
T1 - Being Brave, Being Nice
T2 - Themes of Agency and Communion in Children's Narratives
AU - Ely, Richard
AU - Melzi, Gigliana
AU - Hadge, Luke
AU - McCabe, Allyssa
PY - 1998/4
Y1 - 1998/4
N2 - Although much is known about the presence of themes of agency and communion in adults' autobiographical stories, little is known about the presence of these themes in children's autobiographical stories. In this paper we examine the extent to which children describe themselves and others as agentic and communal beings in ordinary conversational narratives. Subjects were 96 rural, working-class children between the ages of 4 and 9 years. Personal narratives were elicited in the course of informal conversations with an adult experimenter. Narratives were analyzed for the presence of storyworld participants, and for the presence of themes of agency and communion. For both genders, themes of agency were more common than were themes of communion. Girls, however, were more likely to describe themes of communion than were boys, and were more likely to include family members in their narratives than were boys. Finally, correlations between themes of agency and communion were generally low. The findings extend the age to which the concepts of agency and communion can be productively applied to personal narratives. Implications for future theoretical and empirical work are also discussed.
AB - Although much is known about the presence of themes of agency and communion in adults' autobiographical stories, little is known about the presence of these themes in children's autobiographical stories. In this paper we examine the extent to which children describe themselves and others as agentic and communal beings in ordinary conversational narratives. Subjects were 96 rural, working-class children between the ages of 4 and 9 years. Personal narratives were elicited in the course of informal conversations with an adult experimenter. Narratives were analyzed for the presence of storyworld participants, and for the presence of themes of agency and communion. For both genders, themes of agency were more common than were themes of communion. Girls, however, were more likely to describe themes of communion than were boys, and were more likely to include family members in their narratives than were boys. Finally, correlations between themes of agency and communion were generally low. The findings extend the age to which the concepts of agency and communion can be productively applied to personal narratives. Implications for future theoretical and empirical work are also discussed.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0032371513&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0032371513&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/1467-6494.00012
DO - 10.1111/1467-6494.00012
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0032371513
SN - 0022-3506
VL - 66
SP - 257
EP - 284
JO - Journal of Personality
JF - Journal of Personality
IS - 2
ER -