For those who have overheard a conversation that takes place within a group teenagers, you'll realize that the way they talk teenagers about themselves can reveal a lot about what kind of people those teens are gradually turning into. And according to this study, such narratives vary according to gender.

The study conducted by researchers at the University of Missouri involved 65 kids between the ages of 13 and 16 from economically and racially diverse backgrounds. The teens were asked to narrate two positive and two negative stories, and the narratives were later analyzed by research assistants.

Unlike the boys, adolescent girls were more detailed and reflective when telling their story. Based on this, they will also have a greater tendency to reflect on past experiences and graft personal meaning into past events.

The reason this finding is crucial is that teen years is the time when we all are busy trying to carve out identities for ourselves, and this is done mostly through the use of personal narratives. So the way those narratives are crafted can reveal a whole lot about how a particular teenager conceives of his or her identity.

via ScienceDaily