When personal narratives meet historical events: how the multi-crisis context in Lebanon is shaping life narrative temporality

The Lebanese population experiences a unique context of continuous collective crises, exposing individuals to chronic challenges, adversities, and uncertainties over time. Certain historical events, such as wars and natural disasters, were found to play a pivotal role in shaping individuals' autobiographical periods, highlighting the interplay between collective history and individual's memory. The present study investigated how chronic exposure to multiple collective crises impacts individuals' identity. We examined the narrative identity of 43 Lebanese individuals, analysing the temporal organisation and coherence of their life stories, and we compared them to those of 43 French participants, living in a relatively stable, conflict-free country. The results showed that Lebanese life narratives: (1) displayed lower temporal coherence, (2) relied more on historical events and less on conventional life phases to structure personal stories, and (3) often began later in life or exhibited less temporally oriented beginnings, compared to their French counterparts. These differences could not be explained by the degree of personal exposure to collective crises, mental health measures, or cognitive functioning, as no significant correlations were found. Instead, the results provide compelling evidence that a collective history of multiple crises reconfigures the temporal structure of individuals' life story, affecting their narrative identity.