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 * Meaning Making*: the extent to which the narrator gleans meaning from a narrative. Scores on responses range from low (no meaning; narrator simply recounts story), moderate [extracting a concrete lesson from the story (ex: do not put hands on hot surfaces)], to high [gaining a deep insight from the narrative (ex: learning that you can't judge a book by its' cover)].

Research in Narrative Constructs
The constructs mentioned above can vary in a narrative depending on the characteristics of the narrator and the circumstances of the story.Research on construct variance is conducted by having participants tell a story that is scored for some number of the seven narrative constructs.

Individual Characteristics
The characteristics of a narrative can vary depending on age: during the adolescent years, narrative sophistication increases with age. For example,when recounting a narrative about a major turning point in life, older adolescents obtain higher meaning making scores than younger adolescents.

The characteristics of a narrative can also vary depending on generativity (the degree to which an individual wishes to improve society and help future generations) and optimism. Research participants with high generativity and optimism scores tend to have high narrative redemption scores.

Differences in identity status also correlate with differences in narrative characteristics. The identity status theory of identity development examines an individual's exploration of identities and his or her commitment to an identity. There are four identity statuses: identity achievement (the most adjusted status and an integration of exploration and commitment), moratorium (exploration with no commitment),foreclosure (commitment with no exploration), and diffusion (no commitment or exploration). The foreclosure and diffusion identity statuses are the least developmentally advanced. In addition, they are associated with lower meaning making scores than achievement and moratorium.

Circumstances of the Story
The narrative constructs of a story can also depend on its' plot. For example, the emotionality of a plot affects the characteristics of a story: narratives containing negative and/or conflicting emotions receive higher meaning making scores than narratives containing positive or neutral emotions.

Narrative themes can also depend on the event type. Different event types have varying levels of tension, and researchers posit that tension level is associated with narrative construct scores.For example, a mortality (or life threatening) event would have a higher tension level than a leisure (i.e. vacation) event. Mortality narratives also receive higher meaning making scores than leisure narratives. Acheivement (i.e. winning an award) and relationship events are posited to have mixed tension levels; for example, in relationship events, an interpersonal conflict would contain more emotional tension than falling in love. Achievement and relationship narratives also have varying meaning making scores.

Implications
The use of narrative constructs is associated with well-being: people who incorporate negative life events into their narrative identities as instances of redemption tend to have higher instances of levels of happiness and well-being.For example, high school seniors who were able to find a positive outcome from a negative adolescent experience (redemption) had higher levels of well-being than students who could not find a silver lining.

Much of the research on narrative constructs has not established causation: researchers do not know whether well-being causes redemption sequences in narratives, or whether redemption sequences cause well-being. Also, researchers do not know whether tension in a narrative causes meaning making, or whether meaning making leads to tension. Therefore, shaping one's narrative