ABSTRACT
This is a book about families and the stories they tell. Because all families are unique, they each have their own distinctive stories (even the happy ones, despite Tolstoy’s famous remark), stories that express the lives of their individual members, but that are also something more than simply the sum of those individual lives. In this opening chapter, we trace a psychological perspective on how the stories of individuals and their families are intertwined across the life course, setting this tale within the larger ecological context of understanding that psychological research has begun to contribute to thinking about the family across the life course. In particular, we identify three properties of stories that broaden our understanding of their role in family development. First, story telling is an act, through the process of which children learn to become competent narrators. Second, stories also have a message, such that children and adults may receive valuable lessons from them, often ones consistent with cultural mores. Finally, stories aid in the creation of a personal identity that evolves over time and integrates lived experiences with meaning-making processes. These three ideas are key elements in all of the discussion that follows.
