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Article published In:
Narrative Inquiry
Vol. 30:1 (2020) ► pp.1–17

The narrative structure of stressful interpersonal events

| University of Massachusetts Lowell
| University of Louisville
| University of Massachusetts Lowell

Narrating personal experiences helps people make sense of them and contributes to improved well-being. However, little is known about how people recount stressful experiences that are interpersonal in nature. In this study, middle-aged North American women (N = 36), with lifetime histories of victimization, provided accounts of a recent stressful interpersonal event. High Point Analysis was applied to analyze the narratives. The majority (55%) of narratives were characterized by extensive evaluative content, categorized as End at High Point. The next most common (38%) category of responses were Emotional Narratives, characterized by a concentration of evaluative statements with little or no complicating action. Thus, participants’ memories of their stressful interpersonal events were caught in an unresolved, emotionally charged, limbo. Results reveal a novel approach to analyzing narratives of interpersonal stressors, and shed light on the relationship between victimization histories and narration of interpersonal experiences.

Keywords: High Point Analysis, stressful events, interpersonal encounters
Article outline
  • Introduction
    • High Point Analysis
  • Method
    • Participants
    • Materials
      • Assessing victimization status
      • Collection of narratives
    • Procedure
    • High Point Analysis
  • Results
    • Inter-rater reliability
    • Narrative analysis
  • Discussion
    • Associations with memory for traumatic events
    • Clinical background and implications
    • Limitations and conclusion
  • References
Published online: 10 March 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.18088.ho
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