Everyday Storytelling: The Function, Meaning, and Impact of College Student's Storytelling and Storylistening

The current study investigated the stories that 102 college students heard and told through the course of a 1-day diary study with surveys administered at four timepoints. Investigated through the perspective of the small story framework (Bamberg & Georgakopoulou, 2008), everyday talk (Goldsmith & Baxter, 1996) and Communicated Narrative Sense-Making (CNSM) theory (Koenig Kellas, 2022), participants reported about the stories that they heard and told throughout their day, as well as completed self-report measures of well-being. The study aimed to understand the characteristics of everyday stories, the functions they serve, the meanings they hold, and their impact on well-being. Participants reported hearing and telling an average of 7.47 stories a day, often noting that stories they heard rather than told as the most meaningful. Pearson’s correlations revealed a significant relationship between participants hearing more positive stories and experiencing more positive affect. Participants also reported higher positive affect when hearing more stories that served the function of connection. A hybrid approach of inductive and deductive coding was employed to analyze the meanings and takeaways that participants drew from the everyday stories they heard and told throughout the day. Three supratypes of MVBs were identified: descriptive, reflective, and prescriptive. These findings highlight the importance of understanding the nuanced meanings gleaned from everyday story experiences and their impact on our well-being. Advisor: Jody Koenig Kellas