MEMORY, 2018

VOL. 26, NO. 1, 131–143

https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2017.1335327

The transmission and stability of cultural life scripts: a cross-cultural study

a,b
Steve M. J. Janssen and Shamsul Haquec
a
School of Psychology, University of Nottingham – Malaysia Campus, Semenyih, Malaysia; bSchool of Psychology, Flinders University,
Adelaide, Australia; cDepartment of Psychology, Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University – Malaysia,
Bandar Sunway, Malaysia

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Cultural life scripts are shared knowledge about the timing of important life events. In the Received 26 September 2016
present study, we examined whether cultural life scripts are transmitted through traditions Accepted 21 May 2017
and whether there are additional ways through which they can be attained by asking
KEYWORDS
Australian and Malaysian participants which information sources they had used to generate Autobiographical memory;
the life script of their culture. Participants hardly reported that they had used cultural and cultural life script; identity;
religious traditions. They more often reported that they had used their own experiences and social learning theory;
experiences of relatives and friends. They also reported the use of comments of relatives and
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vicarious memories
friends and the use of newspapers, books, movies and television programmes. Furthermore,
we examined the stability of life scripts and similarities and differences across cultures. We
found that life scripts are stable cognitive structures and that there are, besides cross-cultural
differences in the content, small cross-cultural differences in the valence and distribution of
life script events, with the Australian life script containing more positive events and more
events expected to occur before the age of 16.

Cultural life scripts are semantic knowledge about the
timing for important life events likely to occur in an ideal-
ised life course (Berntsen & Rubin, 2002, 2004). It has been
argued that this knowledge is used when people tell their
life story (Berntsen & Bohn, 2010; Bohn, 2010). Although 10
properties have been proposed, we will examine the prop-
erty that suggests that cultural life scripts are transmitted
through traditions. Although there have been studies
which have shown that life scripts are formed throughout
childhood (Bohn & Berntsen, 2008; Habermas, 2007), the
present study is the first one – as far as we know – that
has examined the transmission of life scripts. Besides
examining the role of traditions, we will also explore if
there are additional ways through which people can
learn about the life script of their culture and examine
the stability of life scripts and similarities and differences
in life scripts across two cultures (i.e., Australia and
Malaysia).
Cultural life scripts
Life scripts, which combine the concept of story scripts
(Schank & Abelson, 1977) with that of age norms (Neugar-
ten, Moore, & Lowe, 1965), are defined as culturally shared
representations of the order and timing of transitional
events in a prototypical life course (Berntsen & Rubin,
2004). Cultural life scripts do not represent a list of remem-
bered experiences but events expected to occur in an
idealised life course. Life scripts exist as shared cognitive
structures influencing the retrieval of positive over nega-
tive events and of events from early adulthood over
those from other lifetime periods.
Berntsen and Rubin (2004) proposed 10 properties of
life scripts, six of which were derived from Schank and
Abelson (1977), describing them as: (1) semantic knowl-
edge about expectations regarding; (2) a series of tem-
porally ordered life events; (3) defined in terms of their
time slots; (4) forming a hierarchical arrangement, with
transitional events forming a higher order (scene), in
which a series of subordinate actions or episodes are
nested; (5) used to process life stories and (6) comprising
culturally important transitional events with culturally sanc-
tioned timing. The remaining four properties were pro-
posed by Berntsen and Rubin (2004): (7) life scripts do
not represent an average but an idealised life, from
which many common and some important life events are
omitted; (8) life scripts are distorted from actual lives to
favour positive events and (9) events expected to occur
in early adulthood; (10) and, because life scripts represent
a normative life course, they are not based on personally
experienced events but transmitted through traditions.
Two methods have been used to examine life scripts (cf.,
Janssen & Haque, 2015). The first method requires partici-
pants to estimate at what age highly emotional events,
such as the happiest, saddest, most loving, most fearful,
most important and most traumatic event, might occur in

CONTACT Steve M. J. Janssen steve.janssen@nottingham.edu.my School of Psychology, University of Nottingham – Malaysia Campus, B1B21, Jalan
Broga, 43500 Semenyih, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
 132 S. M. J. JANSSEN AND S. HAQUE
a prototypical life course (Berntsen & Rubin, 2004, Study 1;
Haque & Hasking, 2010; Rubin & Berntsen, 2003, Study 2).
The second method asks participants to generate important
events – with no specific requests concerning emotional
content – expected to occur in a prototypical life of a
newborn child (Berntsen & Rubin, 2004, Study 2) or a cente-
narian (Erdoğan, Baran, Avlar, Taş, & Tekcan, 2008). These
events are subsequently categorised and rated on impor-
tance, valence, prevalence and expected age at occurrence.
Studies on life scripts, mostly employing the second
method, tend to investigate several properties simul-
taneously. The first property, indicating that life scripts
are semantic knowledge, has been tested in four studies
(Bohn, 2010; Janssen & Rubin, 2011; Janssen, Uemiya, &
Naka, 2014; Tekcan, Kaya-Kızılöz, & Odaman, 2012), which
compared the proportions of life script events across
young, middle-aged, and older adults in Denmark, the
Netherlands, Japan and Turkey. Whereas two studies
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reported minor differences in the content of life scripts
across age groups (Bohn, 2010; Tekcan et al., 2012), two
studies with larger samples found no differences (Janssen
& Rubin, 2011; Janssen et al., 2014). The results of the
latter studies indicate that life scripts are semantic knowl-
edge, because, if they were not, the events would be
increasingly person specific and thus diversified.
Other properties have been investigated as well. Prop-
erty 7, indicating that many common and some important
events are left out of the life script, has received significant
support (Berntsen & Rubin, 2004, Study 2; Erdoğan et al.,
2008; Janssen et al., 2014; Janssen & Rubin, 2011; Rubin,
Berntsen, & Hutson, 2009). Property 8, suggesting that life
scripts contain more positive than negative events, and
Property 9, indicating that the majority of events in the
life script occur in the bump period, have also received
widespread support too (Berntsen & Rubin, 2004, Study
2; Bohn, 2010; Ece & Gülgöz, 2014; Erdoğan et al., 2008;
Janssen et al., 2014; Janssen & Rubin, 2011; Ottsen & Bernt-
sen, 2014; Rubin et al., 2009).
Transmission of life scripts
Receiving almost no attention is Property 10, which pro-
poses that life scripts are transmitted by tradition. Accord-
ing to the life script framework, nearly everyone in a given
society knows at what age a prototypical baby, with still its
entire life ahead of it, is supposed to join high school, leave
home for higher education, fall in love, complete gradu-
ation, start first job, get married and have children. This
knowledge is semantic and shared by almost everyone
(Berntsen & Rubin, 2004), including adolescents and
young adults (Bohn & Berntsen, 2008). Because adolescents
and young adults have not personally experienced most
life script events, it is unclear how they have obtained
this knowledge. The first goal of the current study was
therefore to examine this proposition.
Berntsen and Rubin (2004) suggested that life scripts are
transmitted through traditions. Traditions when given their
broad definition are the transmission of customs or beliefs
from generation to generation. Using tradition in this
context to explain the transmission of cultural life scripts
would be circular. A narrower definition for traditions is a
set of customs and rituals. This definition seems more
appropriate in the present context. These customs and
rituals may have a religious connection and are then
regarded as religious. If they do not have a religious con-
nection, they are regarded as cultural. However, it is also
possible that they are attained in other ways. Social learn-
ing theory (Bandura, 1977) proposes three sources of infor-
mation from which people may learn about self-efficacy
that could be applied to the transmission of life scripts.
People may learn which life events are regarded as
highly important and at what ages these important
events are supposed to occur by (a) personal experiences
(called performance accomplishments in social learning
theory), (b) the observation of the lives of relatives and
peers (called vicarious experiences) and (c) comments and
suggestions from relatives and peers (called verbal persua-
sion). Furthermore, Janssen et al. (2014) speculated that
reading books and watching television and movies about
other people’s lives may also influence which life events
are considered important and prevalent. Finally, laws and
regulations of a country may inform life scripts too. Most
countries have laws that stipulate from what age people
can obtain their driver’s licence or at what age they can
retire.
We examined how life scripts are transmitted by asking
participants first to consider a newborn baby with a
typical future ahead and list seven of the infant’s most
important events, with accompanying categorisation,
age estimation, and importance, valence and prevalence
ratings for each event. After completing the standard
life script questionnaire, we asked participants to
provide the sources that they had used to generate the
seven events, determine their importance, and estimate
their expected age at occurrence. However, people may
not be fully aware of how they learned this semantic
knowledge. After answering the three open-ended ques-
tions about the sources on which they had based their
answers, we therefore gave participants the seven
events back one-by-one. For each event, we asked them
how they had determined the event’s importance and
expected age at occurrence. Each question was followed
by a list with 10 information sources. By offering the list
with possible information sources, we hoped to increase
their awareness of the range of sources.
We measured which information options were selected
most frequently. We expected that participants would indi-
cate that they had learned about life scripts, besides
through cultural and religious traditions as had been pre-
dicted by Berntsen and Rubin (2004), also through
reading about other people’s lives in newspapers and
books and watching television programmes and movies
as had been speculated by Janssen et al. (2014). Partici-
pants were also expected to have learned about life
 MEMORY 133

scripts from observing relatives and friends and from lis- Stability of life scripts
tening to the comments of relatives and friends as was pre-
The current study’s third goal was to examine the stability
dicted from social learning theory (Bandura, 1977).
of life scripts. In cross-cultural comparisons, responses on
life script questionnaires are aggregated into a single list
Similarities and differences across cultures of event categories and their proportion of mentions. To
examine whether two life scripts are different, one can
The second goal of the current study was to examine
examine which events reached the 4% threshold in one
whether there are similarities and differences in the life
group but not the other. Alternatively, one can examine
scripts across cultures. Several earlier studies have directly
which events were among the 10 most frequently men-
compared life scripts produced by participants with differ-
tioned events in one group but not the other. There are
ent cultural backgrounds. Janssen et al. (2014) compared
also more inferential approaches available. By calculating
Japanese and Dutch life scripts with a particular focus on
the correlation of the proportion of mentions, one can
the temporal distribution of positive, negative and
also examine whether two life scripts are different. If the
neutral events and the event content. The temporal distri-
groups mention the same set of events frequently, then
butions of the positive, neutral and negative events were
the correlation will be high. Besides correlations, one can
similar across the two samples. More positive than negative
also conduct chi-square tests to see whether the events
events were mentioned, with positive events mainly
are mentioned more often in one group.
expected to occur between 15 and 30 years of age and
However, like any measure, there is bound to be some
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the expected ages at occurrence of negative events

noise in the list of events and each event’s proportion of
equally distributed over the entire lifespan. While investi-
mentions. The amount of noise, or stability, of the life
gating the event content, it was found that 25 events
script questionnaire is not known, making it difficult to
were common to both groups. Some events, such as the
determine whether disparities in life scripts are due to
high-school entrance exam, Seijinshiki ceremony and
noise in the measurement or to genuine cultural differ-
Shichi-go-san festival, were present in the Japanese but
ences. To test the stability of life scripts, we compared
absent in the Dutch life script, whereas other events,
the results of the Australian participants of the present
such as leaving home, the first sexual experience and
study to the results of a previous study with Australian par-
death of grandparents, were part of the Dutch life script
ticipants (i.e., Janssen, 2015). Both samples consisted of
but not the Japanese. Rubin et al. (2009) compared
participants who were mostly first-year psychology stu-
Danish and American undergraduates, reporting similar
dents. Because we hypothesised that life scripts would
life scripts with minor but reasonable differences in
be stable, we predicted no substantial differences in the
regards to the types of events included. A positivity bias
content of life scripts and similar distributions of the
and a bias for events estimated to happen between 10
expected ages at occurrence and the positive, neutral
and 30 years of age was observed in both groups. Scher-
and negative events. The observed differences can be
man (2013) reanalysed data from 5 studies and demon-
used as a benchmark in cross-cultural comparisons. If the
strated that life scripts from all included cultures
differences between Malaysian and Australian participants
contained a greater allowance of positive events occurring
are similar to the differences between the two groups of
between the ages of 15 and 30 years, creating a distri-
Australian participants, then they should be attributed to
bution for life script events similar to the distribution
noise. If the differences are larger, then they can be attrib-
obtained from life story memories.
uted to cultural factors.
The present study compared the content, the distri-
bution of positive, neutral and negative events, and the dis-
tribution of the expected age at occurrence from Australian
and Malaysian life scripts. In line with the literature (cf., Method
Janssen & Haque, 2015), participants from both countries
Participants
were expected to mention a high number of positive
events that occur mainly in early adulthood and a There were two groups of participants in this study. We
reduced number of negative events that are equally dis- tested 124 Malaysian students who were enrolled at the
tributed across ages, resulting in the standard deviations Malaysian campus of Monash University. The results of
of expected age at occurrence of positive events being three students were omitted from the analyses (because
smaller than those of negative events. However, there the participant had entered events from their own life or
may be substantial differences in the content of the because the results were double entries), leaving the
events between both countries as their cultural fabrics results of 121 participants. The final group consisted of
are unique. Whereas Australia is a developed nation and 85 female and 36 male participants, and the mean age of
highly individualistic, Malaysia is a developing nation and the group was 18.99 (SD = 1.08, range = 15–25).
collectivistic (Hofstede, 2001), and thus their cultural We also tested 152 Australian students from Flinders
expectations concerning the content of life events were University. The results of 5 students were omitted
expected to be different. (because the participants had only included early
 134 S. M. J. JANSSEN AND S. HAQUE

childhood events or because the results were double
entries), leaving the results of 147 participants. The final
group consisted of 121 female and 26 male participants,
and the mean age of the group was 22.68 (SD = 7.98,
range = 17–55).
Although the Australian participants were older (t(266)
= 5.04, p < .001, Cohen’s d = 0.593) and the Australian
sample consisted of more female participants (χ 2(1) =
5.43, p = .020, Cramer’s V = 0.142), cultural life scripts are
known for not being affected by age (Janssen & Rubin,
2011) or gender (Janssen et al., 2014).
Materials and procedure
After providing informed consent and their background
information, participants were asked to imagine an ordin-
ary infant that had the same gender and cultural back-
ground as themselves. The infant could not be a specific
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which information sources they had used to generate the
seven events that will most likely occur in the prototypical
person’s life, which information sources they had used to
rate how important these events were, and which infor-
mation sources they had used to estimate at what ages
these events would occur.
Subsequently, participants were again given the
descriptions of the seven events back one-by-one. For
each event, participants had to answer two questions.
We asked them which information sources they had used
to decide upon the importance of the event and the age
at which the event was expected to occur. Participants
could select multiple options among 10 information
sources and one open-ended option, in which they could
enter their information source if it would not be among
the 10 options (also see Tables 1 and 2).
When participants had reported the information
sources they had used to decide upon the events’ impor-

child they knew, but the child had to be a prototypical
infant from Malaysia (or Australia) with an ordinary life
course ahead. Participants were then asked to describe
briefly the seven most important events that are most
likely to occur in this prototypical infant’s life.
When participants had entered the seven events, they
were given the descriptions back one-by-one. They were
asked to categorise the event, estimate its prevalence,
rate its importance, estimate at what age the event most
likely will occur and rate its valence. While categorising
the events, participants could choose from 54 categories
that were taken from previous studies. The categories
were presented in alphabetic order (and not in order of
expected age at occurrence). When there was no category
that suited the event, participants were instructed to select
the “other” option, which was presented as the last option.
Prevalence was rated on a scale that ranged from 0 to 100
(out of 100) people, whereas expected age at occurrence
was rated on a scale ranging from 0 to 100 years. Impor-
tance and valence were rated on 7-point scales that
ranged from (1) “unimportant” to (7) “of greatest impor-
tance” and from (−3) “very negative” to (3) “very positive”.
After answering the life script questionnaire, partici-
pants were asked to answer three open-ended questions
about the transmission of life scripts. We asked them
tance and expected age of occurrence, the questionnaire
ended. They were then thanked for their participation
and briefly explained the purpose of the study.
Results
The results section consists of five parts. We examine first
whether the Malaysian sample contains a cultural life
script and then whether there is a cultural life script in
the Australian sample. Subsequently, to examine the stab-
ility of life scripts, the results of the Australian sample are
compared to the results of an Australian sample collected
in a previous study. The results of the Australian sample
are also compared to the results of the Malaysian sample
to examine the influence of culture on life scripts. Finally,
we will test whether cultural life scripts are transmitted
through traditions and explore if there are additional
ways through which cultural life scripts can be attained.
Malaysian life script
We first examined whether there was a cultural life script in
the Malaysian sample. These participants were asked to
name the seven most important events that will most
likely take place in the life of an ordinary Malaysian

Table 1. The proportion of participants who selected the source or the kind of information on which they based their
decision regarding the importance of the event (multiple answers possible).
Information source Prop
I have personally experienced this event and I found that it was an important event 0.521
Comments that members of my family have made suggest to me that this event is important 0.491
Members of my family have experienced this event and it has changed their lives 0.533
Comments that my friends have made suggest to me that this event is important 0.368
Friends have experienced this event and it has changed their lives 0.392
Cultural traditions related to this event indicate to me that this event is important 0.260
Religious traditions related to this event indicate to me that this event is important 0.128
Laws and government policies related to this event indicate to me that this event is important 0.149
When reading about other people’s lives in newspapers and books, this event seemed important 0.386
When watching a television programme or a movie about another person’s life, this event seemed important 0.426
Other, namely … 0.007
Total 3.662
 MEMORY 135

Table 2. The proportion of participants who selected the source or the kind of information on which they based their decision regarding the expected age at
occurrence of the event (multiple answers possible).
Information source Prop
I have personally experienced this event and it occurred to me when I was that age 0.468
Comments that members of my family have made suggest to me that this event is supposed to occur at that age 0.411
Members of my family have experienced this event and it occurred when they were that age 0.513
Comments that my friends have made suggest to me that this event is supposed to occur at that age 0.294
Friends have experienced this event and it occurred when they were that age 0.372
Cultural traditions related to this event indicate to me at what age this event is supposed to occur 0.183
Religious traditions related to this event indicate to me at what age this event is supposed to occur 0.073
Laws and government policies related to this event indicate to me at what age this event is supposed to occur 0.135
When reading about other people’s lives in newspapers and books, this event occurred when they were that age 0.335
When watching a television programme or a movie about another person’s life, this event occurred when they were that age 0.367
Other, namely … 0.029
Total 3.179

person. The mentioned events were accordingly rated as
highly important (M = 5.80, SD = 1.24) and highly prevalent
(M = 76.7, SD = 21.0). The participants were also asked to
rate the events on valence and to indicate at what age
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SD = 13.9) than negative categories (M = 76.8, SD = 16.2),
p = .891. The standard deviations of the age at which the
positive events were expected to occur (M = 4.81, SD =
5.40) were smaller than the standard deviations of the

they expected the events to occur. The mentioned
events were predominantly rated as positive, χ 2(2) =
672.05, p < .001, Cramer’s V = 0.630, with 75.2% given posi-
tive, 9.7% given neutral and 15.1% given negative ratings.
The expected ages at occurrence of positive, neutral and
negative events were not distributed equally across the
lifespan (see top panel of Figure 1), χ 2(4) = 131.58, p
< .001, Cramer’s V = 0.394. About a quarter of the positive
events was expected to occur before the age of 16
(27.2%), more than half of the positive events between
the ages of 16 and 30 (61.2%), and the remaining positive
events after the age of 30 (11.6%). These three proportions
were more equal for the neutral (30.5%, 42.7% and 26.8%)
and negative events (16.4%, 28.9% and 54.7%).
To test whether the expected ages at occurrence of
positive event categories are smaller than those of nega-
tive event categories, the Malaysian participants cate-
gorised the events. The number and proportion of
mentions and the mean prevalence, importance, expected
age at occurrence and valence per event category are
given in the Appendix (Table A1). The participants classi-
fied 8.5% of the total number of events as “other”. One
new category could be established from the descriptions
of these “other” events (i.e., “first birthday”). Categories
that were mentioned by at least 4% of the participants
(cf., Berntsen & Rubin, 2004) were regarded as part of the
Malaysian life script. The new category (4.1%) and 34
other categories passed the threshold.
Under the assumption that the event categories are
independent units, the majority of the categories in the
Malaysian life script were positive (N = 28), χ 2(2) = 35.37,
p < .001, Cramer’s V = 0.711. Six categories were negative
(i.e., death parents, own death, serious illness, first rejec-
tion, accident, and death sibling or friend), whereas one
category was considered as neither positive nor negative
(i.e., first sexual experience). Positive categories were not
rated as more important (M = 5.76, SD = 0.50) than nega-
tive categories (M = 5.41, SD = 0.55), p = .143, and positive
categories were not rated as more prevalent (M = 77.7,
age at which the negative events were expected to occur
(M = 9.86, SD = 5.93), t(32) = 2.05, p = .049, Cohen’s d =
1.121. Although this last difference was significant, these
results need to be treated with caution due to the low
number of negative categories.
Australian life script
We then examined whether the Australian sample con-
tained a cultural life script. Similar to the Malaysian partici-
pants, the Australian participants were asked to name the
seven most important events that will most likely take
place in the life of an ordinary person from their culture.
Accordingly, the events were rated as highly important
(M = 5.91, SD = 1.07) and highly prevalent (M = 81.6, SD =
19.7). The participants were also asked to rate the events
on valence and to indicate at what age they expected
the events to occur. The events were predominantly
rated as positive, χ 2(2) = 1178.08, p < .001, Cramer’s V =
0.757, with 83.8% given positive, 8.6% given neutral and
7.7% given negative ratings. Again, the expected ages at
occurrence of positive, neutral and negative events were
not distributed equally across the lifespan (see bottom
panel of Figure 1), χ 2(4) = 70.29, p < .001, Cramer’s V =
0.185. About a third of the positive events was expected
to occur before the age of 16 (31.3%), more than half of
the positive events between the ages of 16 and 30
(60.7%), and the remaining positive events after the age
of 30 (8.0%). These three proportions were more equal
for the neutral (51.1%, 31.8% and 17.0%) and negative
events (43.0%, 27.8% and 29.1%).
To test whether the expected ages at occurrence of
positive event categories are smaller than those of nega-
tive event categories, the Australian participants cate-
gorised the events. The number and proportion of
mentions and the mean prevalence, importance, expected
age at occurrence and valence per event category are
given in the Appendix (Table A2). The participants classi-
fied 6.6% of the total number of events as “other”. Three
 136 S. M. J. JANSSEN AND S. HAQUE
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Figure 1. The distribution of the expected age at occurrence of positive (black bars), neutral (white bars) and negative events (grey bars) named by Malaysian
(top panel) and Australian (bottom panel) participants.
new categories (i.e., “learning to cycle or swim”, “learning to
read and write” and “first tooth”) could be established from
the “other” descriptions. Thirty-five categories were men-
tioned by at least 4% of the participants and were regarded
as part of the Australian life script. “Learning to cycle or
swim” passed the threshold (5.4%), but the other two
new categories did not (2.7% and 2.0%, respectively).
Under the assumption that the event categories are
independent units, the majority of the categories in the
Australian life script were positive (N = 30), χ 2(2) = 42.54,
p < .001, Cramer’s V = 0.758. Only three categories were
negative (i.e., death grandparents, death parents and first
rejection), whereas two categories were considered as
neither positive nor negative (i.e., own death and adoles-
cence). Positive categories were not rated as more impor-
tant (M = 5.95, SD = 0.44) than negative categories (M =
6.06, SD = 0.33), p = .678, and positive categories were
not rated as more prevalent (M = 82.3, SD = 13.9) than
negative categories (M = 94.2, SD = 5.2), p = .158. The stan-
dard deviations of the age at which the positive events
were expected to occur (M = 2.77, SD = 3.27) were smaller
than the standard deviations of the age at which the nega-
tive events were expected to occur (M = 7.93, SD = 4.24), t
(31) = 2.55, p = .016, Cohen’s d = 1.436. Again, although
this difference was significant, these results need to be
treated with caution due to the low number of negative
categories.
Stability of life scripts
To examine the stability of life scripts, the results of the
Australian sample were compared to the results of a pre-
vious study (Janssen, 2015), in which 107 Australian partici-
pants (M age = 18.87, SD age = 2.01, range 16–28 years,
83.2% female) had answered a life script questionnaire
that was identical to the first part of the questionnaire in
the present study. Although the participants from the pre-
vious study were younger (t(252) = 4.83, p < .001, Cohen’s
d = 0.588), cultural life scripts are known for not being
affected by age (Janssen & Rubin, 2011). The two
samples did not differ on the proportion of female and
male participants, p = .857. We compared the content of
the life scripts, the distribution of the expected age at
occurrence and the distribution of positive, neutral and
negative events.

There was considerable overlap in the content of the
two Australian life scripts. Of the 35 event categories of
the Australian life script in the present study, 29 event cat-
egories (82.9%) also appeared in the Australian life script of
Janssen (2015). The six categories that did not reach the
threshold in the previous study were: death grandparents
(11.6% vs. 3.7%), peer group (7.5% vs. 2.8%), first sexual
experience (6.8% vs. 3.7%), major achievement (5.4% vs.
3.7%), learning to cycle or swim (5.4% vs. 0.0%) and first
rejection (4.8% vs. 3.7%). Furthermore, there were four cat-
egories that reached the threshold in Janssen (2015) but
not in the present study: end primary school (3.4% vs.
6.5%), 21st birthday (1.4% vs. 6.5%), birth younger sibling
(2.7% vs. 5.6%) and death sibling or friend (3.4% vs.
5.6%). When we narrowed the comparison to the 10
most mentioned categories, there was still much overlap
in the content of the two Australian life scripts, with
eight categories being the same. The 2 events of the
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present study that were not among the 10 most men-
tioned categories in Janssen (2015) were: making a long
journey (18.4% vs. 14.0%) and retirement (18.4% vs.
10.3%), whereas the 2 events of Janssen (2015) that were
not among the 10 most mentioned categories in the
present study were: Begin university (17.0% vs. 27.1%)
and 18th birthday (15.0% vs. 19.6%).
The findings of the content analyses were supported by
the extremely high correlation between the two samples
for the proportion of mentions per event category (see
Figure 2), r(53) = 0.960, p < .001. In the figure, categories
close to the diagonal line represent events that had
similar proportions of mentions in both samples. Further-
more, the findings of the content analyses were also sup-
ported by comparisons of the number of mentions for
each event category. We conducted 53 chi-square tests,
and most analyses did not yield significant results (p > .05),
suggesting that most proportions were similar. Only five
Figure 2. Comparison of the proportion of mentions per event category for
the Australian participants from the present study and from Janssen (2015).
MEMORY 137
analyses reported small differences (9.4%): death grand-
parents, χ 2(1) = 5.00, p = .025, Cramer’s V = 0.140, high-
school graduation, χ 2(1) = 10.49, p = .001, Cramer’s V =
0.203, learning to cycle or swim, χ 2(1) = 6.01, p = .014,
Cramer’s V = 0.154, marriage, χ 2(1) = 8.47, p = .004,
Cramer’s V = 0.183 and 21st birthday, χ 2(1) = 4.87, p = .027,
Cramer’s V = 0.138. When a Bonferroni correction was
applied to these analyses, none of the differences was
significant.
The distributions of the expected age at occurrence in
the present sample and the sample of Janssen (2015)
were also similar (see Figure 3), χ 2(2) = 4.09, p = .130,
Cramer’s V = 0.048. In both samples, about a third of the
events were expected to occur before the age of 16
(33.9% vs. 30.2%), more than half the events between the
ages of 16 and 30 (55.7% vs. 60.5%), and about a 10th of
the events after the age of 30 (10.4% vs. 9.3%). The distri-
butions of positive, neutral and negative events in both
samples were similar as well, χ 2(2) = 1.99, p = .369,
Cramer’s V = 0.033. More than 80% of the events were
rated as positive (83.8% vs. 82.6%), about a tenth of the
events neutral (8.6% vs. 10.4%), and less than a 10th of
the events negative (7.7% vs. 6.9%).
The comparison of the Australian samples suggests that
life scripts are stable. There was much overlap between
two samples regarding the content. Furthermore, the dis-
tributions of the expected age at occurrence and the distri-
butions of positive, neutral and negative events were
similar across the two samples.
Similarities and differences across cultures
To examine the influence of culture on life scripts, the
results of the Malaysian sample were compared to the
results of the Australian sample. Again, we compared the
content of the life scripts, the distribution of the expected
age at occurrence and the distribution of positive, neutral
and negative events.
There was considerable overlap in the content of the
two life scripts. Of the 35 event categories of the Malaysian
life script in the present study, 29 event categories (82.9%)
also appeared in the Australian life script. The six categories
that did not reach the threshold in the Australian sample
were: serious illness (13.2% vs. 0.0%), children leave
home (9.1% vs. 1.4%), important promotion at work
(9.1% vs. 2.7%), accident (5.0% vs. 0.7%), death sibling or
friend (4.1% vs. 3.4%) and end primary school (4.1% vs.
3.4%). Furthermore, there were six categories that
reached the threshold in the Australian sample but not in
the Malaysian sample: 18th birthday (1.7% vs. 15.0%), first
part-time job (0.8% vs. 14.3%), death grandparents (1.7%
vs. 11.6%), own birth (3.3% vs. 7.5%), learning to swim or
cycle (0.0% vs. 5.4%) and family holiday (0.0% vs. 4.7%).
When we narrowed the comparison to the 10 most men-
tioned categories, there was some overlap in the content
of the 2 life scripts. Six categories were the same. The 4
events of the Malaysian sample that were not among the
 138 S. M. J. JANSSEN AND S. HAQUE
Figure 3. Comparison of the distributions of the expected age at occurrence of the Australian samples from the present study and from Janssen (2015).
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10 most mentioned categories in the Australian sample
were: Begin university (29.8% vs. 17.0%), death parents
(25.6% vs. 7.5%), begin childcare (20.7% vs. 10.9%) and
own death (17.4% vs. 9.5%), whereas the 4 events of the
Australian sample that were not among the 10 most men-
tioned categories in the Malaysian sample were: high-
school graduation (15.7% vs. 44.9%), begin high school
(5.8% vs. 28.6%), making a long journey (8.3% vs. 18.4%)
and retirement (9.1% vs. 18.4%).
We then calculated the correlation for the proportion of
mentions per event category and compared the number of
mentions of each event category. Although the correlation
was strong (see Figure 4), r(54) = 0.775, p < .001, it was
smaller than the corresponding correlation between the
two Australian samples, Z = 4.53, p < .001. Furthermore,
whereas only 5 of the 53 chi-square tests (9.4%) yielded sig-
nificant differences (p < .05) when we compared the
number of mentions per event category of the 2 Australian
samples, nearly half of the 54 chi-square tests (46.3%)
Figure 4. Comparison of the proportion of mentions per event category for
the Malaysian and the Australian participants.
yielded significant differences when we compared the
Malaysian and Australian samples. When Bonferroni correc-
tions were applied, eight differences were still significant
for the cross-cultural comparison whereas there were no
differences for the comparison of the two Australian
samples.
The distributions of the expected age at occurrence of
the Malaysian and Australian samples were not similar
(see Figure 5), χ 2(2) = 37.10, p < .001, Cramer’s V = 0.141.
There were more events expected to occur before the
age of 16 in the Australian sample (25.9% vs. 33.9%), a
similar proportion of events expected to occur between
the ages of 16 and 30 (54.5% vs. 55.7%), and more
events expected to occur after the age of 30 in the Malay-
sian sample (19.6% vs. 10.4%). The distributions of positive,
neutral and negative events in the Malaysian and Austra-
lian sample were also not similar, χ 2(2) = 28.19, p < .001,
Cramer’s V = 0.123. There were more positive events in
the Australian sample (75.2% vs. 83.8%), a similar pro-
portion of neutral events (9.7% vs. 8.6%), and more nega-
tive events in the Malaysian sample (15.1% vs. 7.7%).
The comparison of the Australian and Malaysian
samples suggests that, although there is much overlap
regarding the content when one looks at descriptive
measures, there are more differences when one looks
at inferential measures. Furthermore, although both
samples displayed the hallmarks of life scripts (i.e., positiv-
ity bias and bias for events from early adulthood), there
were significant differences in the valence and temporal
distribution.
Transmission of life scripts
After answering the life script questionnaire, participants
indicated which information sources they had used to
answer the questionnaire. Both samples selected for each
of the seven mentioned events what kinds of information
they had used to decide upon the importance of the
events (Table 1) and the age at which the events were

Figure 5. Comparison of the distributions of the expected age at occurrence of the Malaysian and the Australian sample.
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expected to occur (Table 2). The open-ended options were
hardly used to answer these two questions (0.7% and
2.9%). Because the responses to this option included state-
ments that it was “an educated guess”, “general knowl-
edge”, “common sense”, “statistics” or “social trends”, no
additional information sources could be established.
Participants used more information sources to rate how
important the events were (M = 3.66, SD = 2.53) than they
used to estimate when the events were expected to
occur (M = 3.18, SD = 2.34), t(1875) = 12.14, p < .001,
Cohen’s d = 0.280. Furthermore, although the Australian
participants (M = 4.01, SD = 2.73) tended to use more infor-
mation sources than the Malaysian participants (M = 3.23,
SD = 2.19) to decide upon the events’ importance,
t(1874) = 6.72, p < .001, Cohen’s d = 0.308, they did not
use significantly more information sources (M = 3.26, SD
= 2.48) than their Malaysian counterparts (M = 3.08, SD =
2.15) to estimate the events’ expected age at occurrence,
p = .093.
Despite the differences in the number of selected infor-
mation sources between questions (i.e., importance and
expected age at occurrence) and samples (i.e., Malaysian
and Australian), the patterns across the information
sources were similar, r(11) = 0.985, p < .001 and r(11) =
0.901, p < .001. For example, experiences of relatives were
selected the most frequently for both questions (53.3%
and 51.3%), closely followed personal experiences (52.1%
and 46.8%) and comments from relatives (49.1% and
41.1%). Television programmes and movies (42.6% and
36.7%) and experiences of friends (39.2% and 37.2%)
were also often selected. However, cultural traditions
(26.0% and 18.3%), laws and government policies (14.9%
and 13.5%) and religious traditions (12.8% and 7.3%)
were only selected occasionally as information sources
for deciding upon the importance of the events and the
age at which the events were expected to occur.
Finally, we calculated the correlations between the use
of each information source and the events’ prevalence,
importance, expected age at occurrence and valence.
MEMORY 139
Due to the high number of observations (n = 1876), many
correlations reached significance. However, correlations
were only for personal experiences higher than 0.200. For
both questions (i.e., importance and expected age at occur-
rence), participants more often reported using personal
experiences when the event was rated as highly prevalent,
r(1876) = 0.225, p < .001 and r(1876) = 0.245, p < .001, and
when the event was expected to occur at an early age,
r(1876) = −0.512, p < .001 and r(1876) = −0.513, p < .001.
Six correlations were between 0.200 and 0.100, and all
remaining correlations were lower than 0.100.
Before participants had been given the options, they
had been asked which information sources had been
used to generate the seven events, rate how important
these events were, and estimate at what ages these
events would occur. The answers to these questions were
categorised by two coders with the scheme given in
Tables 1 and 2. The two coders showed good agreement
(Landis & Koch, 1977) for the three open-ended questions,
with Cohen’s κ = 0.842, 0.750 and 0.804, respectively. No
new categories could be formed from the answers that
could not be coded by the scheme. In these answers, par-
ticipants often indicated that they had used their personal
opinion or rephrased the instructions (“cultural
expectations”).
Discussion
The present study had three goals. We examined whether
life scripts are stable, whether there are similarities and
differences in life scripts across cultures, and how life
scripts are transmitted. To address these goals, participants
from Malaysia and Australia completed the life script ques-
tionnaire. Both samples displayed the hallmarks of life
scripts (cf., Janssen & Haque, 2015). The temporal distri-
bution of positive, neutral and negative events showed
that participants mentioned more positive than negative
events, that positive events were expected to occur
mainly between the ages of 16 and 30, that the expected
 140 S. M. J. JANSSEN AND S. HAQUE
ages at occurrence of negative events were distributed
equally over the lifespan, and that the standard deviations
of the expected age at occurrence of positive events were
smaller than those of negative events.
To test the stability of life scripts, the results of the Aus-
tralian sample were compared to the results from an earlier
study with a similar sample (i.e., Janssen, 2015). There were
only minor differences between these two samples. The
correlation of the proportion of mentions was extremely
high, which showed that the two samples agreed on
which events should and which events should not be
included in the Australian life script. This finding was sup-
ported by the results of the chi-square tests, which
showed that the two samples differed on the proportion
of mentions for only five events. When a stricter criterion
was applied, the two samples did not differ on any event.
Furthermore, both the proportions of positive, neutral
and negative events and the proportions of events
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expected to occur before the age of 16, between 16 and
30 and after the age of 30 were similar across the two
samples. These results do not only indicate that life
scripts are stable, but they can also be used to benchmark
cross-cultural comparisons.
The differences between the Malaysian and Australian
sample were larger than the differences between the two
Australian samples. Although there was some overlap
between the content of the Malaysian and Australian life
scripts, there was disagreement about each event’s promi-
nence within the life scripts. Event categories mentioned
by at least 4% in both samples were not necessarily men-
tioned with similar frequency. Some events were fre-
quently mentioned in one sample and only occasionally
mentioned in the other sample and vice versa. Further-
more, whereas both samples showed a higher prevalence
of events that are expected to occur between the ages of
16 and 30 and positive events, the distributions of the
expected age at occurrence and the distributions of posi-
tive, neutral and negative events were not similar across
the two samples, with the Australian life script containing
more positive events and more events expected to occur
before the age of 16.
These results are similar to results of other cross-cul-
tural comparisons (Janssen et al., 2014; Ottsen & Bernt-
sen, 2014; Rubin et al., 2009; Scherman, 2013), which
have shown that, although the content might differ
across cultures, life scripts from every culture display a
predominance of positive events and events expected
to occur in early adulthood. However, the present
study elaborates on these previous studies by showing
that descriptive statistics, such as which events reached
the 4% threshold or were among the 10 most mentioned
events in one sample but not the other, are less sensitive
to differences than inferential statistics, such as corre-
lations and chi-square tests. When using comparisons
of samples from the same culture as a benchmark,
descriptive measures did not give larger differences
but inferential measures gave larger differences when
comparing different cultures. We would therefore like
to recommend comparisons to employ inferential
statistics.
The present study and many previous studies have
treated culture and nationality as being identical.
However, studies like Coleman (2014) and Hatiboğlu and
Habermas (2016) have shown that the life script of subcul-
tures may differ. Coleman (2014) asked African-American
participants to imagine a prototypical child or a prototypi-
cal child from their own race and found that some events
were specific to the African-American life script. Hatiboğlu
and Habermas (2016) examined the life script of Turkish
students from urban and rural areas and second-gener-
ation Turkish and German students from a major German
city and found differences between them. Future research
should take subcultures into account.
Finally, we examined the transmission of life scripts. As
far as we know, the present study is the first one that has
examined this issue. Besides answering open-ended ques-
tions, participants selected which information sources they
had used to decide upon the importance of the event and
the age at which the event was expected to occur. The cat-
egories from which they could choose were taken from
predictions by Berntsen and Rubin (2004), who proposed
that life scripts are transmitted through cultural and reli-
gious traditions (customs and rituals), and from conjecture
by Janssen et al. (2014), who had speculated that life scripts
are transmitted through reading newspapers and books
and watching television and movies. In line with the
social learning theory (Bandura, 1977), it was also predicted
that life scripts could be transmitted through personal
experiences (performance accomplishments), observation
of other people’s lives (vicarious experiences) and com-
ments and suggestions from others (verbal persuasion).
The results of the present study suggested that life
scripts are transmitted in multiple ways. There was con-
siderable support for responses derived from the social
learning theory. Participants frequently selected the
options of experiences of relatives and friends, personal
experiences and comments made by relatives and
friends. Personal experiences were especially used for
prevalent events and events that were expected to occur
at an early age. There was also support for the speculation
that life scripts are attained through watching movies and
television programmes and reading books and newspa-
pers. These options were often selected too. However, cul-
tural and religious traditions were hardly selected, which
went against the prediction that life scripts would be trans-
mitted through traditions. These findings suggest that the
tenth property of life scripts needs to be adjusted to
include additional ways of transmission.
The additional way of transmission that seems the most
promising is the relatives’ and friends’ experiences. There is
increasing evidence that people know other people’s life
stories (Pillemer, Steiner, Kuwabara, Thomsen, & Svob,
2015; Thomsen & Pillemer, 2016), either from witnessing
them or being told about them. Other people’s life

stories are not personally experienced memories, but
people remember what has happened to their relatives
and friends. These events are therefore called vicarious
memories. Moreover, what people read or watch about
events happening to existing and fictional people in news-
papers, books, television programmes and movies might
also be considered a form of vicarious memories. The
present results seem to suggest that cultural life scripts
seem to be the abstraction from witnessing and hearing
the life stories of relatives, friends and other people.
A limitation of the present study is that cultural life
scripts appear to be learned implicitly (Schacter, 1987;
Seger, 1994). Because participants may not have explicitly
learned which events were important and prevalent and
when these important and prevalent events were expected
to occur, it may be difficult for them to report how they
have attained the life script. The implicit learning of life
scripts might explain the surprisingly high use of personal
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experiences. This finding seems to go against the idea that
cultural life scripts are semantic knowledge (Berntsen &
Rubin, 2004). Many studies have shown that cultural life
scripts are not affected by age (e.g., Janssen & Rubin,
2011; Janssen et al., 2014), suggesting that experiencing
the events personally does not change which events are
regarded as important and prevalent and at what age
these events are expected to occur. It is possible that par-
ticipants may have interpreted this item as simply a ques-
tion about whether they had personally experienced the
event rather than a question about whether they had
used personal experiences to attain the life script.
We attempted to address the implicit learning of life
scripts by offering participants a list of options derived
from the literature. However, this list might be missing
one or more ways in which life scripts can be transmitted.
The list should therefore not be regarded as definitive. It is
rather a starting point for further research. Furthermore,
some items on the list could benefit from refinement in
future research. The item asking about family members’
experiences, for example, could be separated in two
items, one asking about whether they had been told
about the family members’ experiences (e.g., their
parents’ wedding) and another asking about whether
they had witnessed the family members’ experiences
(e.g., their parents’ 25th wedding anniversary).
Conclusions
The present study not only replicated findings regarding
similarities and differences between life scripts from differ-
ent cultures, it also demonstrated that cultural life scripts
are stable when the results of the same culture were com-
pared. Furthermore, the study expanded our understand-
ing of life scripts by showing that they are not
transmitted through traditions as initially proposed but
through vicarious memories about the experiences of rela-
tives and friends, comments of relatives and friends, and
information about other people’s lives from newspapers,
MEMORY 141
books, movies and television programmes. The results
seem to suggest that cultural life scripts are the abstraction
of many vicarious memories about other people’s life
stories, but this interpretation has to be examined further.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Jessie Khor for her help coding the
answers to the open-ended questions regarding the transmission of
life scripts and Prof. Martin Conway, Prof. Tillman Habermas and one
anonymous reviewer for the helpful comments.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
ORCID
Steve M. J. Janssen http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3100-128X
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Appendix

Table A1. The description of the categories, including the number and the percentage of mentions, the average (and the standard deviation) of expected age
at occurrence, the average (and standard deviation) of prevalence, the average (and standard deviation) of importance and the average (and standard
deviation) of valence of the Malaysian sample.
Description Number Percentage Age Prevalence Importance Valence
Marriage 108 89.3 27.70 (2.39) 75.3 (15.3) 5.99 (1.12) 2.32 (1.03)
Having children 82 67.8 30.46 (8.09) 67.1 (17.5) 5.87 (1.14) 1.96 (1.24)
University graduation 60 49.6 23.43 (17.68) 65.6 (17.0) 6.05 (0.87) 2.47 (0.79)
First full-time job 54 44.6 24.17 (1.95) 82.7 (18.6) 6.15 (1.02) 1.76 (1.23)
Fall in love, first kiss 48 39.7 16.33 (3.57) 87.0 (12.9) 5.27 (1.30) 1.65 (1.26)
Begin university 36 29.8 19.03 (0.85) 66.4 (15.2) 5.92 (0.94) 1.86 (1.07)
Begin primary school 32 26.4 6.41 (1.04) 91.7 (8.4) 6.09 (0.96) 1.72 (1.11)
Death parents 31 25.6 50.94 (10.18) 92.5 (8.8) 6.42 (0.99) −2.55 (1.06)
Begin childcare, kindergarten 25 20.7 3.84 (0.90) 89.6 (13.7) 5.84 (1.43) 1.76 (1.39)
Death (own death) 21 17.4 81.62 (8.94) 100.0 (0.0) 5.33 (1.88) −1.05 (1.56)
High-school graduation 19 15.7 17.79 (2.32) 84.4 (12.7) 5.63 (1.01) 1.63 (1.26)
Learning to walk, or first steps 17 14.0 1.18 (0.95) 90.8 (23.7) 6.71 (0.47) 2.76 (0.56)
Major achievement 16 13.2 30.00 (12.88) 44.3 (23.3) 5.56 (1.26) 1.88 (1.36)
Serious illness 16 13.2 56.50 (7.22) 67.3 (30.1) 5.50 (1.32) −2.31 (0.79)
Learning to talk, or first words 15 12.4 1.47 (0.74) 96.9 (4.5) 6.47 (0.74) 2.67 (0.62)
Adolescence, puberty 14 11.6 12.50 (1.79) 95.9 (5.9) 5.93 (1.44) 1.00 (1.36)
Having grandchildren 12 9.9 65.00 (6.16) 53.2 (16.0) 5.75 (1.36) 2.08 (1.24)
Children leave house 11 9.1 55.18 (8.39) 63.3 (16.5) 5.09 (1.30) 1.55 (1.29)
First play friend 11 9.1 5.09 (1.51) 93.7 (6.8) 6.82 (0.41) 2.36 (0.81)
First rejection 11 9.1 18.00 (3.13) 68.6 (26.0) 5.00 (1.10) −1.64 (1.29)
Important promotion at work 11 9.1 34.36 (4.48) 64.3 (15.1) 5.82 (0.98) 2.18 (1.08)
Retirement 11 9.1 63.27 (17.17) 73.8 (28.2) 5.55 (1.04) 1.45 (1.29)
Settle on career 11 9.1 27.45 (1.56) 75.2 (26.7) 5.91 (0.94) 2.18 (0.98)
Making a long journey 10 8.3 28.70 (18.32) 62.8 (23.3) 4.50 (1.27) 1.80 (1.03)
Meeting future partner 10 8.3 24.60 (3.34) 68.1 (11.2) 5.10 (1.37) 1.70 (1.34)
Obtaining driver’s licence 8 6.6 17.88 (0.64) 76.5 (22.0) 5.13 (1.64) 1.50 (0.93)
Peer group, friendships 8 6.6 11.38 (4.24) 79.1 (30.0) 6.00 (1.41) 1.63 (1.30)
Begin high school 7 5.8 13.00 (0.00) 83.7 (11.9) 6.14 (0.90) 2.29 (0.76)
Accident 6 5.0 13.00 (8.81) 75.0 (25.9) 4.83 (1.17) −1.83 (0.41)
Buying house or other property 6 5.0 29.17 (4.79) 74.5 (14.7) 5.33 (1.21) 2.00 (1.67)
First sexual experience 6 5.0 23.67 (5.79) 87.5 (10.7) 5.17 (2.40) 0.83 (2.23)
Death sibling or friend 5 4.1 38.20 (20.87) 57.6 (37.7) 5.40 (1.67) −2.40 (0.89)
End primary school 5 4.1 15.20 (3.90) 92.4 (9.9) 5.40 (0.89) 2.00 (1.00)
Leave home 5 4.1 22.60 (5.08) 77.8 (16.4) 5.60 (1.14) 1.00 (1.87)
First birthday* 5 4.1 1.00 (0.00) 100.0 (0.0) 5.60 (1.95) 2.20 (1.30)

(Continued)
 MEMORY 143

Table A1. Continued.

Description Number Percentage Age Prevalence Importance Valence
Adulthood 4 3.3 20.25 (2.87) 76.0 (24.9) 4.75 (1.50) 1.50 (0.58)
Birth (own birth) 4 3.3 0.00 (0.00) 100.0 (0.0) 5.75 (0.96) 2.00 (1.41)
Birth younger sibling 4 3.3 6.50 (1.73) 62.8 (22.8) 5.00 (1.41) 2.00 (1.16)
Death partner 4 3.3 70.25 (7.32) 47.5 (5.1) 6.00 (0.82) −3.00 (0.00)
Death grandparents 2 1.7 20.50 (10.61) 92.5 (3.5) 6.50 (0.71) −2.50 (0.71)
Divorce 2 1.7 41.50 (4.95) 82.5 (2.1) 5.50 (0.71) −2.50 (0.71)
Eighteen birthday 2 1.7 18.00 (0.00) 100.0 (0.0) 5.00 (0.00) 1.00 (0.00)
First part-time job 1 0.8 20.00 (0.00) 100.0 (0.0) 7.00 (0.00) 3.00 (0.00)
Problems at work 1 0.8 22.00 (0.00) 58.0 (0.0) 6.00 (0.00) 0.00 (0.00)
Other 70 57.9 19.59 (17.68) 71.3 (24.5) 5.51 (1.57) 1.06 (1.91)
*New event category.

Table A2. The description of the categories, including the number and the percentage of mentions, the average (and the standard deviation) of expected age
at occurrence, the average (and standard deviation) of prevalence, the average (and standard deviation) of importance and the average (and standard
deviation) of valence of the Australian sample.
Description Number Percentage Age Prevalence Importance Valence
Having children 99 67.3 28.24 (2.62) 70.94 (15.39) 6.00 (1.08) 2.42 (0.89)
Downloaded by [EP- IPSWICH] at 02:22 14 November 2017

Begin primary school 89 60.5 5.11 (0.35) 92.85 (13.55) 6.36 (0.79) 1.76 (1.05)
Marriage 87 59.2 27.16 (2.29) 73.82 (14.11) 5.46 (1.24) 2.66 (0.68)
High-school graduation 66 44.9 17.65 (0.57) 77.58 (16.17) 5.89 (0.84) 2.26 (0.85)
Fall in love, first kiss 54 36.7 17.69 (3.90) 90.26 (10.71) 5.91 (1.12) 2.33 (0.95)
Begin high school 42 28.6 13.19 (0.86) 91.62 (13.95) 6.19 (0.77) 1.05 (1.23)
First full-time job 38 25.9 22.95 (2.63) 84.03 (13.53) 6.18 (0.77) 1.66 (1.21)
University graduation 32 21.8 22.84 (1.61) 54.09 (17.59) 5.69 (0.97) 2.66 (0.55)
Making a long journey 27 18.4 23.81(10.41) 66.04 (22.75) 5.04 (1.63) 2.78 (0.42)
Retirement 27 18.4 67.67 (5.26) 86.48 (13.22) 5.63 (0.79) 1.93 (1.00)
Begin university 25 17.0 18.52 (0.77) 61.40 (14.89) 5.60 (0.96) 1.72 (0.94)
Obtaining driver’s licence 23 15.6 16.74 (1.14) 83.00 (13.05) 5.48 (1.12) 1.96 (1.07)
Eighteen birthday 22 15.0 18.00 (0.00) 97.00 (5.77) 5.91 (0.92) 1.86 (1.13)
First part-time job 21 14.3 15.52 (1.40) 83.67 (17.41) 5.81 (0.93) 1.43 (1.12)
Buy house or other property 20 13.6 28.80 (1.94) 65.90 (19.64) 5.85 (0.75) 2.20 (0.89)
First play friend 19 12.9 4.79 (1.08) 96.37 (6.18) 6.47 (0.77) 2.58 (0.84)
Death grandparents 17 11.6 15.47 (7.76) 99.65 (0.79) 6.12 (1.11) −2.00 (1.66)
Learning to walk, or first steps 17 11.6 1.06 (0.43) 97.76 (3.33) 6.82 (0.39) 2.76 (0.56)
Leave home 17 11.6 21.22 (2.64) 86.59 (14.65) 5.76 (0.83) 1.71 (1.16)
Settle on career 17 11.6 26.47 (6.06) 73.71 (19.17) 5.88 (0.78) 1.82 (0.88)
Begin childcare, kindergarten 16 10.9 3.69 (0.70) 90.94 (13.36) 5.94 (1.06) 1.19 (1.22)
Death (own death) 14 9.5 85.79 (7.34) 100.00 (0.00) 6.07 (1.54) −0.86 (1.70)
Having grandchildren 14 9.5 59.29 (7.18) 66.21 (17.00) 5.43 (1.02) 2.57 (0.65)
First birthday 14 9.5 1.00 (0.00) 99.79 (0.58) 6.00 (1.11) 2.50 (0.86)
Adolescence, puberty 13 8.8 12.46 (1.13) 92.54 (23.98) 6.00 (1.08) −0.23 (1.09)
Learning to talk, or first words 13 8.8 1.23 (0.60) 98.85 (1.82) 6.85 (0.38) 2.77 (0.44)
Meeting future partner 13 8.8 24.77 (3.40) 78.46 (17.49) 5.85 (0.99) 2.92 (0.28)
Birth (own birth) 11 7.5 0.00 (0.00) 100.00 (0.00) 6.91 (0.30) 1.36 (1.43)
Death parents 11 7.5 46.91 (12.26) 89.27 (22.23) 6.36 (0.67) −2.55 (0.93)
Peer group, friendships 11 7.5 14.55 (2.73) 87.91 (16.87) 6.18 (0.87) 1.64 (1.75)
First sexual experience 10 6.8 17.20 (2.39) 92.50 (7.71) 5.60 (1.17) 1.30 (0.95)
Learning to cycle or swim 8 5.4 6.25 (1.75) 84.63 (11.11) 5.75 (1.04) 2.25 (1.04)
Major achievement 8 5.4 23.88 (14.88) 48.13 (33.05) 6.50 (0.76) 2.75 (0.46)
First rejection 7 4.8 17.57 (3.78) 93.57 (7.93) 5.71 (1.11) −2.00 (1.00)
Family holiday 6 4.1 3.33 (3.39) 89.00 (14.14) 5.67 (0.82) 2.83 (0.41)
Death sibling or friend 5 3.4 55.20 (30.09) 97.60 (4.34) 5.60 (0.89) −3.00 (0.00)
End primary school 5 3.4 13.00 (0.71) 91.80 (8.87) 6.60 (0.89) 1.80 (1.10)
Birth of younger sibling 4 2.7 5.00 (1.41) 74.50 (11.73) 6.50 (0.58) 2.25 (0.50)
Important promotion at work 4 2.7 30.75 (7.14) 42.00 (20.80) 4.50 (1.92) 2.00 (0.82)
Learning to read and write* 4 2.7 4.75 (0.96) 87.75 (10.21) 6.75 (0.50) 2.00 (0.82)
Adulthood 3 2.0 19.67 (1.53) 99.33 (0.58) 6.00 (1.73) 1.67 (1.53)
Baptism 3 2.0 15.00 (12.29) 65.67 (30.11) 6.33 (1.16) 1.67 (1.53)
Divorce 3 2.0 39.00 (1.73) 53.33 (5.77) 3.67 (0.58) −1.67 (1.53)
Divorce parents 3 2.0 11.67 (4.51) 53.33 (20.21) 5.33 (1.16) −2.33 (0.58)
Moving to another house 3 2.0 22.33 (0.58) 83.33 (10.41) 5.33 (0.58) 2.67 (0.58)
First tooth, teething* 3 2.0 3.67 (3.22) 100.00 (0.00) 5.33 (1.16) 2.00 (1.73)
Children leave house 2 1.4 47.50 (3.54) 82.50 (3.54) 5.50 (0.71) −0.50 (2.12)
Twenty-first birthday 2 1.4 21.00 (0.00) 96.50 (4.95) 4.00 (1.41) 1.00 (0.00)
Fiftieth birthday 2 1.4 50.00 (0.00) 75.00 (35.36) 4.00 (0.00) 0.00 (0.00)
Accident 1 0.7 6.00 (0.00) 75.00 (0.00) 4.00 (0.00) −3.00 (0.00)
Other 54 36.2 19.67 (20.18) 76.46 (28.72) 5.81 (1.29) 1.41 (1.90)
*New event categories.
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