Self-defining memories as windows into narrative identity: a qualitative study with LGBTQ+ individuals

The current study qualitatively investigated the narrative identities of LGBTQ+ individuals through their self-defining memories (SDMs): vivid, emotionally intense, and repeatedly recalled autobiographical memories linked to enduring personal concerns. Written SDMs collected from 76 Italian LGBTQ+ individuals through an online survey were analysed to identify the themes and subthemes emerging in their memory narratives. For analytic purposes, participants were considered across four groups: cisgender gay and bisexual+ men, cisgender lesbian and bisexual+ women, transgender and nonbinary (TNB) individuals assigned male at birth (AMAB), and TNB individuals assigned female at birth (AFAB). Reflexive thematic analysis identified patterns of meaning concerning life-story ruptures and loss, experiences of identity and body violation, coming out and identity expression, belongingness, mirroring and self-recognition, and affirming relationships. Experiences of violation recurred across all four groups, and other thematic cores were shared by the two cisgender groups and by the two TNB groups, alongside variations in the salience and configuration of themes. These findings show how experiences of vulnerability, recognition, and relational affirmation become incorporated into autobiographical meaning-making, and they point towards clinical interventions that support the integration and reframing of LGBTQ+ individuals’ narrative identities.