Narrative identity themes in Mexican American couples' COVID-19 stories predict social support and loneliness

A narrative identity approach was used to examine associations between narrative theme predictors and loneliness and perceived spousal social support outcomes. Participants (n = 135; 50% women; 73.3% Mexican American) enrolled in a longitudinal study of marital functioning wrote pandemic-related relationship challenge narratives and completed measures of loneliness and social support. Eight themes (established: affect, agency, communion, meaning-making; novel: challenge resolution, couple stress response, familismo, overriding positive regard) were quantitatively coded and used in analyses. Social support was associated with most themes for women, but few for men. Loneliness was associated with different themes by gender. This study extends the narrative identity literature by including a majority Mexican American sample, novel interpersonal themes, and loneliness and social support as outcomes.