Emerging Identities: Narrative and Self from Early Childhood to Early Adolescence

Abstract

This chapter is about when and how we begin to draw meaning from important events in our lives. Although children may indeed “wake up” to a new level of self-reflection in adolescence, we will argue that these newfound realizations are built upon experiences and capacities that have been developing from early childhood. We will also propose that the ability to draw meaning from life events is present much earlier in development than previously assumed, at the very latest by early adolescence, and possibly even earlier.