Parental attachment and children's memory for attachment-relevant stories

Abstract

Despite evidence that parents’ attachment is associated with children’s memory, less is known about the mechanisms underlying this association or the contexts in which the association is most meaningful. The present study examined whether parents’ attachment predicted children’s memory for stories about attachment-related topics, whether the cohesiveness of children’s stories mediated the association between attachment and memory, and whether the association varied by interview support at retrieval. Five- to 6-year-olds completed attachment-relevant stories while parents provided information about their romantic attachment. Children’s stories were coded for cohesiveness. A week later, children’s memory for their stories was tested by either a supportive or non-supportive interviewer. When the interview was non-supportive, greater parental avoidance was associated with poorer memory, whereas when the interview was supportive, greater parental avoidance was associated with fewer errors. Findings provide insight into the context under which parents’ attachment is most influential in shaping children’s memory.

The effects of implicit encouragement and the putative confession on children’s memory reports

“…On the other hand, back-channeling may increase accuracy by helping children to focus on an interviewer’s questions. Back-channeling and the use of children’s names also may act as general support, which as mentioned, reduces children’s errors (Davis & Bottoms, 2002; Milojevich & Quas, 2016; Saywitz et al, 2002). Overall, the question of whether implicit encouragement increases productivity without compromising accuracy needs to be directly tested.…”

Children’s Narratives of Family Life in Ghana: A Cultural Lens via Story Stems

“…Secondly, young children tend to struggle to express themselves well and openly with direct interview methods and may be more amenable to indirect methods like story stems. Through presenting relatable scenarios to children, they are invited to participate in a creative storytelling process that is understood to tap indirectly into their cognitive scripts, memories, representations of self in relation to others, unconscious emotions, and/or behavioural tendencies based on lived experiences and cultural perceptions (Clarke et al 2017;Milojevich and Quas 2017;Yuval-Adler and Oppenheim 2015). The typical and everyday-like nature of the situations between children, and their caregivers allows this technique potentially to be employed within different socioeconomic contexts, as well as in diverse ethnic and cultural settings (Robinson et al 2000;Dealy et al 2019).…”

False Memories and True Memories of Childhood Trauma: Balancing the Risks

“…But to the extent that Freud was referring to the complete loss of conscious memory for trauma that had negative implications for the self (and thus subject to repression) and was retrievable with a supportive therapist, there is still valid disagreement. However, children with insecure attachment (or with parents with avoidant attachment) benefit from a supportive interviewer for providing their memories (Chae et al, 2017; Milojevich & Quas, 2017). This is consistent with Freud’s concept that memories are sometimes accessed in a supportive, therapeutic context.…”