Letters From V: Adolescent Personality Development in Sociohistorical Context

Abstract

Systematic content analysis of personal documents is used to assess the course of personality development in one adolescent female exposed to traumatic historical and personal events, as well as more normative life changes. Seventy-one letters written by a young girl to her former teacher over a 9-year period comprise the data for this study. Our analyses assess the normal developmental processes of preoccupation with identity formation and the establishment of intimate relationships, as well as responses to life changes (emigration, marriage, pregnancy). Overall, results suggest that despite serious challenges and losses, this individual experienced normal personality development throughout her trying adolescence. In addition, particular life events affected the course of that development. Factors which may have facilitated her resilience are discussed.

Statistical Issues in the Study of Temporal Data: Daily Experiences

“…The focus here historically has been to analyze relationships that characterize single individuals. For example, Espin, Stewart, and Gomez (1990) reported analyses of developmental trends and the impact of major life events on the themes revealed in the letters written by one young woman during her adolescence. Palus, Nasby, and Easton (1990) examined the changes in mood and cognitive functioning of a man as a result of his experiences during a 180-day solo circumnavigation of the globe in a sailboat.…”

The application of cultural and social capital: a study of the 25th year reunion entries of prep school and public school graduates of Yale College

“…They are a rich source of narrative material in which alumni 'present themselves' (see Goffman, 1959) to their former classmates. Like Presidential inaugural addresses (Donley and Winter, 1970;McClelland, 1975;Winter and Stewart, 1977), speeches announcing one's plans to run for political office (Winter, 1982), diaries and correspondance (Stewart, Franz and Layton, 1988), letters (Allport, 1965;Espin, Stewart and Gomez, 1990), or even dreams (Hall and Domhoff, 1968), they can be scored for content and they can be scored for motives.…”

A Quantitative Case Study of Longitudinal Changes in Identity, Intimacy, and Generativity

“…In a final check, her overall reliability with the author was 92% on the presence of imagery and above 85% on each of the subcategories calculated separately (agreement ranged from 85% to 94%). This level of reliability is typical of trained scorers (see Espin et al, 1990;Peterson & Stewart, 1990).…”

“…Several researchers address the issue of psychosocial change, including identity processes, using the technique of systematic content analysis of personal documents (Espin, Stewart, & Gomez, 1990;Franz, 1988;Franz & Paul, 1986;Peterson & Stewart, 1990;Stewart et al, 1988). The trends in these studies support Erikson's view that identity themes peak in early adulthood and decline somewhat with age.…”

“…Because the derivation of the scoring system, scoring conventions, and scoring subcategories have been published elsewhere (Espin et al, 1990;Franz, 1988;Stewart et al, 1988; and in the scoring manual: Stewart et al, 1991), only a brief discussion of the system follows.…”