Narrating traumas and transgressions Links between narrative processing, wisdom, and well-being

Experiencing personal growth via reflection on negative events is well established. Yet, we know less about how people process and grow (or not) from different types of negative events, and how such narrative processing might differentially predict important outcomes, in this case, wisdom and well-being. Eighty-five community members participated in an online study examining the narrative processing and self-perceptions of traumas and transgressions, and how narrative processing predicted wisdom and well-being. Results showed few differences in the processing of traumas and transgressions, though the latter was viewed as less important to the self compared to the former. Further, growth in transgressions predicted wisdom, and narrative resolution of transgressions predicted well-being. In contrast, for trauma narratives well-being was predicted by the interaction of resolution and narrative complexity. Discussion focuses on the role of event types in narrative processing in relation to wisdom and well-being.