Article published In: Journal of Narrative and Life History
Vol. 6:1 (1996) ► pp.23–38
Conceptions of Self in Mother-Child Birth Stories
Published online: 4 August 2015
https://doi.org/10.1075/jnlh.6.1.02con
https://doi.org/10.1075/jnlh.6.1.02con
Abstract
Family stories of children's early experiences may be important contributors to children's growing sense of self. In this study, 35 New Zealand Pakeha (European-descent) mothers told their preschoolers the story of the child's birth. Conversations were coded for mothers' emphasis on interpersonal aspects of the birth or for an exclusive focus on the child. Overall, mothers with daughters and younger preschoolers adopted a more interpersonal focus than did mothers with sons and older preschoolers. Mothers' focus was not solely a function of the topics that children brought up during the conversations. Thus, mothers seem to view the birth narrative as a way of introducing their daughters and younger children into their space in the wider family community. (Development, Gender Socialization, Self-Concept)
References (26)
Cowan, N., & Davidson, G. (1984). Salient childhood memories. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 1451, 101–107.
Fivush, R., Gray, J. T., & Fromhoff, F. A. (1987). Two-year-olds talk about the past. Cognitive Development, 21, 393–409.
Flannagan, D., & Hardee, S. D. (1993). Talk about preschoolers' interpersonal relationships: Patterns related to culture, SES, and gender of child. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 401, 523–537.
Fung, H. (1995, March). Becoming a moral child: The role of shame in the socialization of young Chinese children. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Indianapolis, IN.
Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women's development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Jelinek, E. C. (1986). The tradition of women's autobiography: From antiquity to present. Boston: Twayne.
Kuebli, J., & Fivush, R. (1992). Gender differences in parent-child conversations about past emotions. Sex Roles, 271, 683–698.
Linde, C. (1993). Life stories: The creation of coherence. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
MacDonald, S., Uesiliana, K., & Hayne, H. (1996). Cross-cultural differences in childhood amnesia. Manuscript submitted for publication.
McAdams, D. P. (1993). The stories we live by: Personal myths and the making of the self. New York: Morrow.
McCabe, A., & Peterson, C. (1991). Getting the story: A longitudinal study of parental styles in eliciting narratives and developing narrative skill. In A. McCabe & C. Peterson (Eds.), Developing narrative structure (pp. 217–253). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Miller, P. J., Potts, R., Fung, H., Hoogstra, L., & Mintz, J. (1990). Narrative practices and the social construction of self in childhood. American Ethnologist, 171, 292–311.
Mullen, M. K. (1994). Earliest recollections of childhood: A demographic analysis. Cognition, 521, 55–79.
Nelson, K. (1993). Events, narratives, memory: What develops?. In C. A. Nelson (Ed.), Memory and affect in development: The Minnesota Symposium on Child Psychology, Vol. 261 (pp. 1–24). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Reese, E., & Fivush, R. (1993). Parental styles of talking about the past. Developmental Psychology, 291, 596–606.
Reese, E., Haden, C. A., & Fivush, R. (1993). Mother-child conversations about the past: Relationships of style and memory over time. Cognitive Development, 81, 403–430.
(1996). Mothers, fathers, daughters, sons: Gender differences in autobiographical reminiscing. Research on Language and Social Interaction. 29(1), 27–56.
Ross, M., & Holmberg, D. (1990). Recounting the past: Gender differences in the recall of events in the history of a close relationship. In M. P. Zanna & J. M. Olson (Eds), The Ontario symposium: Vol. 6. Self-inference processes (pp. 135–152). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Snow, C. E. (1990). Building memories: The ontogeny of autobiography. In D. Cicchetti & M. Beeghly (Eds.), The self in transition: Infancy to childhood (pp. 213–242). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Sperry, L. L., & Sperry, D. E., (1993, April). The socialization of narration in African-American toddlers. Poster presented at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Seattle, WA.
Tannen, D. (1990). Gender differences in topical coherence: Creating involvement in best friends' talk. Discourse Processes, 131, 73–90.
Thoma, S. J. (1986). Estimating gender differences in the comprehension and preference of moral issues. Developmental Review, 61, 165–180.
Cited by (18)
Cited by 18 other publications
Navarro-Marshall, Javiera
Navarro‐Marshall, Javiera & Antonia Larrain Sutil
Nicoladis, Elena, Connie Svob & Lisa Smithson
Adebayo, Comfort Tosin
Taylor, Julie, C Bradbury-Jones, Peter Ogik, Fazira Kawuma, Jane Betts & Patricia Lund
Scharp, Kristina M., John S. Seiter & Megan Maughan
Suter, Elizabeth A., Jody Koenig Kellas, Stephanie K. Webb & Jordan A. Allen
Andrews, Jennifer, Widaad Zaman, Natalie Merrill, Marshall Duke & Robyn Fivush
Kellas, Jody Koenig, Leslie Baxter, Cassandra LeClair-Underberg, Matthew Thatcher, Tracy Routsong, Emily Lamb Normand & Dawn O. Braithwaite
McLean, Kate C. & Sarah Morrison-Cohen
Kranstuber, Haley & Jody Koenig Kellas
Reese, Elaine & Robyn Fivush
Reese, Elaine, Harlene Hayne & Shelley MacDonald
Hayden, Julia M., Jefferson A. Singer & Joan C. Chrisler
Bylund, Carma L.
Kellas, Jody Koenig
2005. Family Ties: Communicating Identity Through Jointly Told Family Stories This paper is based on the author's dissertation study and was presented on the Top Four Panel of the Family Communication Division at the National Communication Association Convention, November 2003, Miami, FL.. Communication Monographs 72:4 ► pp. 365 ff.
Stone, Elizabeth, Erica Gomez, Despina Hotzoglou & Jane Y. Lipnitsky
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 13 november 2025. 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.