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Article published In:
Narrative Inquiry
Vol. 33:1 (2023) ► pp.176–191

Incremental validity of narrative identity in predicting psychological well-being

A replication and extension in Korean adults

ORCID logo | Korea University
| Korea University
| Korea University
| Korea University

The goal of the present study was to replicate and extend previous research that demonstrated the incremental validity of narrative identity in predicting psychological well-being among Korean adults. We recruited 147 Korean adults living in South Korea who completed a battery of questionnaires that assessed the Big Five traits, extrinsic value orientation, self-concept clarity, and psychological well-being. Participants then wrote a story about how they had become the persons they were, which was subsequently coded in terms of agency. We found that psychological well-being was positively related to extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and self-concept clarity, but negatively to neuroticism and extrinsic value orientation. The positive relation between agency, coded from narratives, and psychological well-being was significant both with and without controlling for the other variables. These results showed that narrative identity has incremental validity in predicting well-being among individuals who live in a culture where collectivism and individualism coexist.

Keywords: narrative identity, agency, psychological well-being, values, self-concept clarity
Article outline
  • Levels of personality and incremental validity of narrative identity
  • Agentic themes and psychological well-being
  • Non-narrative variables
  • Narrative identity research in Korea
  • The present study
  • Method
    • Participants and procedure
    • Materials
      • Big five traits
      • Extrinsic value orientation
      • Self-concept clarity
      • Psychological well-being
      • Narrative prompt
      • Narrative coding for agency
      • Narrative length
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Ethical compliance section
    • Compliance with ethical standards
    • Conflict of interest
    • Informed consent
  • References
Published online: 23 December 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.21047.par
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