Article published In:
Narrative InquiryVol. 25:2 (2015) ► pp.203–223
Making sense of immigration processes
Overcoming narrative disruption
This article analyses the narrative disruption processes and quality of life of adolescent immigrants in Spain. Furthermore, it also provides a new methodological approach to assess meta-subjective and narrative quality of life. Participants were 30 adolescents (15 immigrant and 15 autochthons) selected form a sample of 884 adolescents (from which 204 were immigrants). Data regarding quality of life was collected applying the Friendship Quality Scale and the Vancouver Index of Acculturation to all the participants (n = 884). According to the punctuation of the questionnaires a subsample was chosen, the Biographical Grid was applied to 30 participants; the immigrants group was also asked to write a text. Results indicate that both perceived quality of life and self-esteem of immigrant’s group are lower than the autochthons’ while narrative disruption is higher. A deeply explanation about some of the causes of these results is provided by the narratives’ analysis.
References
Adler, J.M., Wagner, J.W., & McAdams, D.P
(2007) Personality and the coherence of psychotherapy narratives. Journal of Research in Personality, 411, 1179–1198. 
Alvarez, I.M., Carretero, M.R, Pérez-Cabaní, M.L., & Vall, B
(2011) Estudio de la calidad de la amistad de los adolescentes inmigrantes en el contexto escolar de Cataluña. En J.M. Román, M.A. Carbonero, y J.D. Valdivieso (Comp.), Educación, aprendizaje y desarrollo en una sociedad multicultural (pp. 1159–1171). Madrid: Ediciones de la Asociación Nacional de Psicología y Educación.
Álvarez, I.M., & Vall, B
(2013) Orientación de la aculturación de los adolescentes immigrados en Cataluña: ¿Las variables socio-demográficas pueden marcar la diferencia?. Cultura y Educación, 25(3), 309–322.
Bell, R.C
(1987) G-Pack—Version 3.0: A computer program, for the elicitation and analysis of repertory grids. Unpublished manual, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
(1988) Theory-appropriate analysis of repertory grid data. International Journal of Personal Construct Psychology, 1(1), 101–118.
Berry, J.W
(2003) Conceptual approaches to acculturation. In K.M. Chun, P.B. Organista, & G. Marin (Eds.), Acculturation: Advances in theory, measurement, and applied research (pp. 17–37). Washington: American Psychological Association.
Berry, J.W., Phinney, J.S., Sam D.L., & Vedder, P
(2006) Immigrant youth: Acculturation, identity, and adaptation. Applied Psychology, 55(3), 303–332.
Berry, J.W., & Sabatier, C
(2011) Variations in the assessment of acculturation attitudes: Their relationships with psychological wellbeing. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 351, 658–669.
Bukowski, W.M., Hoza, B., & Boivin, M
(1994) Measuring friendship quality during pre- and early adolescence: The development and psychometric properties of the friendship qualities scale. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 11(3), 471–484.
Bukowski, W., & Sippola, M.K
(2005) Friendship and development: Putting the most human relationship in its place. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 1091, 91–98.
Camfield, L., & Skevington, S.M
(2008) On subjective well-being and quality of life. Journal of Health Psychology, 13(6), 764–775.
Castellá, J
(2003) Estudios actuales sobre aculturación en latinos: Revisión y nuevas perspectivas. Interamerican Journal of Psychology, 37(2), 341–364. Retrieved from: [URL].
Cook, T.D., Deng, Y., & Morgano, E
(2007) Friendship influences during early adolescence: The special role of friends’ grade point average. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 17(2), 325–356.
Corbin, J., & Strauss, A
(1990) Grounded theory research: Procedures, canons, and evaluative criteria. Qualitative Sociology, 131, 3–21. Retrieved from [URL]. DOI:
Currier, J
(2010) Acute stress disorder and forms of narrative disruption. Pragmatic Case Studies in Psychotherapy, 6(1), 34–42.
Davidson, L., Kilpatrick, M., Kerres, C., Ellonen, N., & Korkiamäki, R
(2008) United States and Finish adolescents’ perceptions of social support: A cross-cultural analysis. School Psychology International, 291, 363–375.
De Fina, A
(2003) Crossing borders: Time, space and disorientation in narrative. Narrative Inquiry, 13(2), 1–25.
(2009) Narratives in interview - The case of accounts: For an interactional approach to narrative genres. Narrative Inquiry, 19(2), 233–258.
De Fina, A., & Perrino, S
(2011) Introduction: Interviews vs. ‘natural’ contexts: A false dilemma. In A. De Fina & S. Perrino (Eds.), Narratives in interviews, interviews in narrative studies. Special Issue Language in Society, 401, 1–11.
(2013) Transnational identities. Applied Linguistics, 34(5), 509–515.
De Fina, A
(2014) Language ideologies and practices in a transnational community. In R. Marquez Reiter & L. Martin Rojo (Eds.), A sociolinguistics of diaspora (pp. 48–65). London: Routledge.
Everett, W., & Cummings, M
(2000) A secure base from which to explore close relationships. Child Development, 71(1), 164–172.
Feixas, G., Montebruno, C., Dada, G., Castillo, M., & Compañ, V
(2010) Self construction, cognitive conflicts and polarization in bulimia nervosa. International Journal of Clinical And Health Psychology, 10(3), 445–457. Retrieved from [URL]
Fleck, M.P., & Skevingotn, S.M
(2007) Explaining the meaning of the WHOQOL-SRPB. Revista de Psiquiatría Clínica, 34(1), 67–69.
Fog, K
(2007) Caribbean Journeys: An ethnography of migration and home in three family networks. Durham: Duke University Press.
France, C., & Uhlin, B
(2006) Narrative as an outcome domain in psychosis. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 79(1), 53–67.
Gerrish, N.J., Steed, L.G., & Neimeyer, R.A
(2010) Meaning reconstruction in bereaved mothers: A pilot study using the biographical grid method. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 23(2), 118–142.
Gerrish, N., & Bailey, S
(2012) Using the biographical grid method to explore parental grief following the death of a child. Bereavement Care, 31(1), 11–17.
Herrero, O., Neimeyer, R.A., & Botella, L
(2006) Chaos to coherence: Psychotherapeutic integration of traumatic loss. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 19(2), 127–145.
Kelly, G.A
(1955) The psychology of personal constructs. New York: Norton.
Kirkman, M
(2003) Infertile women and the narrative work of mourning: Barriers to the revision of autobiographical narratives of motherhood. Narrative Inquiry, 13(1), 243–263.
Landsford, J., Criss, M., Pettit, G., Dodoge, K., & Bates, J
(2003) Friendship quality, peer group affiliation and peer antisocial behavior as moderators of the link between negative parenting and adolescent externalizing behavior. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 13(2), 161–184.
Langellier, K., & Peterson, E
(2006) Family storytelling as communication practice. In L.H. Turner & R. West (Eds.), The family communication sourcebook (pp. 109–118). California: Sage Publications.
Liebkind, K
(Ed.) (1989) New identities in Europe: Immigrant ancestry and the ethnic identity of youth. Aldershot: Gower.
Lysaker, P., & Lysaker, J
(2002) Narrative structure in psychosis: Schizophrenia and disruptions in the dialogical self. Theory & Psychology, 12(2), 207–220.
Mahoney, M
(2003) Constructive psychotherapy: A practical guide. New York: The Guilford Press.
Manderson, L., & Rapala, S
(2005) Making sense of disruptions: Strategies of re-grounding of ailing Polish immigrants in Melbourne, Australia. Human Organization, 64(4), 350–359.
Neimeyer, R.A
(1985) Personal constructs in clinical practice. In P.C. Kendall (Ed.), Advances in cognitive behavioral research and therapy (pp. 275–329). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Neimeyer, R.A., & Stewart, A.E
(1996) Trauma, healing, and the narrative employment of loss. Families in Society, 77(6), 360–375.
Neimeyer, R
(2000) Narrative disruptions in the construction of the self. In R. Neimeyer & J. Raskin (Eds.), Constructions of disorder: Meaning-making frameworks for psychotherapy (pp. 207–242). Washington: American Psychological Association.
Neimeyer, R.A
(2004) Fostering posttraumatic growth: A narrative elaboration. Psychological Inquiry, 15(1), 53–59.
(2006a) Re-storying loss: Fostering growth in the posttraumatic narrative. In R.G. Calhoun & R.G. Tedeschi (Eds.), Handbook of postraumatic growth: Research and practice (pp. 68–80). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
(2006b) Widowhood, grief and the quest of meaning: A narrative perspective on resilience. In D.S. Carr, R.M. Nesse & C.B. Wortman (Eds.), Spousal bereavement in late life. New York: Springer Publishing Company.
Neimeyer, R.A., Herrero, O., & Botella, L
(2006) Chaos to coherence: Psychotherapeutic integration of traumatic loss. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 19(2), 127–145.
Neimeyer, R.A., Burke, L., Mackay, M., & Stringer, J
(2010) Grief therapy and the reconstruction of meaning: From principles to practice. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 40(2), 73–83.
Roussi, P., & Avi, E
(2008) Meaning-making and chronic illness: Cognitive and narrative approaches. Hellenic Journal of Psychology, 5(2), 147–178. Retrieved from [URL]
Ryder, A., Alden, L., & Paulhus, D
(2000) Is acculturation unidimensional or bidimensional? A head-to-head comparison in the prediction of personality, self-identity, and adjustment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(1), 49–65.
Schwartzmann, L
(2003) Calidad de vida relacionada con la salud: Aspectos conceptuales. Ciencia y Enfermería, 9(2), 9–21.
Sermpezis, C
(2007) Patterns of construing and post-traumatic stress disorder (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from Ethos: Electronic Theses Online Services (ID: uk.bl.ethos.485653)
Sermpezis, C., & Winter, D
(2009) Is trauma the product of over- or under-elaboration? A critique of the personal construct model of posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 22(4), 306–327.
Sewell, K
(1996) Constructional risk factors for a post-traumatic stress response after a mass murder. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 9(2), 97–107.
Sewell, K., Cromwell, R., Farrell-Higgins, J., Palmer, R., Ohlde, C., & Patterson, T
(1996) Hierarchical elaboration in the conceptual structures of Vietnam combat veterans. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 9(2), 79–96.
Sewell, K., & Williams, A
(2002) Broken narratives: Trauma, metaconstructive gaps, and the audience of psychotherapy. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 15(3), 205–218.
Stewart, J
(1995) Reconstruction of the self: Life-span oriented group psychotherapy. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 81,129–148.
Stewart, A.E., & Neimeyer, R.A
(2010) Emplotting the traumatic self: Narrative revision and the construction of coherence. The Humanistic Psychologist, 29(1-3), 8–39.
Suárez-Orozco, C., Bang, H.J., & Kim, H.Y
(2011) “I felt like my heart was staying behind:” Psychological implications of immigrant family separations and reunifications. Journal of Adolescent Research, 26(2), 222–257.
Velarde-Jurado, M.C., & Avila-Figeroa, C
(2002) Consideraciones metodológicas para evaluar la calidad de vida. Salud Pública de México, 44(5), 448–463.
White, M
(1989) The externalizing of the problem and the re-authoring of lives and relationships. In M. White (Ed.), Selected papers (pp. 5–28). Adelaide: Dulwich Centre Publications.
White, M., & Epston, D
(1990) Narrative means to therapeutic ends. New York: Norton.
Winter, D
(2011) Radicalization as a constructive choice: Possible research directions, In M. Ruggiero (Ed.). Perspectives on immigration and terrorism (pp. 115–119). Amsterdam: IOS Press BV.
Wong, D., Yingli, C., Xuesong, H., & Qiaobing, W
(2010) The protective functions of relationships, social support and self-esteem in the life satisfaction of children of migrant workers in Shanghai, China. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 56(2), 143–157.
World Health Organization
(1997) Program on mental health. WHOQOL, measuring quality of life. Division of mental health and prevention of substance abuse. Retrieved from [URL]
Cited by
Cited by 1 other publications
Quintana, Stephen M., Julia Z. Benjamin & Numan Turan
2022. Immigrant Identity Narratives: Youth Literacy Project. In Re/Formation and Identity [Advances in Immigrant Family Research, ], ► pp. 137 ff. 
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.