We examined relationships between vicarious life stories for mothers and distant others, personal life stories, and well-being. Participants described chapters in their mothers’ and personal life stories, self-rated chapters on emotional tone and meaning, and completed well-being measures. In Studies 3 and 4, participants described chapters for distant others. In Study 4, mothers’ personal life stories were collected. In Studies 2–4, chapters were coded for redemption, agency, and communion. Qualities of vicarious and personal life stories were positively related, except for ex-boy/girlfriends (Study 4). Vicarious life stories were less positive and were less consistently related to well-being than personal life stories. Vicarious life stories for mothers were positively related to both participants’ personal life stories and mothers’ personal life stories.

我们研究了母亲和远方他人的替代生活故事，个人生活故事和幸福之间的关系。参与者描述了母亲和个人生活故事中的章节，对情绪语调和意义进行了自我评价，并完成了幸福感测评。在研究3和4中，参与者描述了其他较远的章节。在研究4中，收集了母亲的个人生活故事。在研究2–4中，章节编码为赎回，代理和圣餐。除前男生/女友外，替代生活和个人生活故事的质量成正相关（研究4）。与个人生活故事相比，替代生活故事的积极性较差，与幸福感的相关性较弱。