The relationship between sociocultural factors and autobiographical memories from childhood: the role of formal schooling

Abstract

Cross-cultural differences in autobiographical memory (AM) are associated with cultural variations. In models of the self and parental reminiscing style, but not many studies have analysed the relationship between AM and specific cultural practices such as formal schooling. Theoreticians like [Greenfield, P. M. (2009). Linking social change and developmental change: Shifting. pathways of human development. Developmental Psychology, 45, 401-418. doi: 10.1037/a0014726 ; Kağitçibaşi, C. (2005). Autonomy and relatedness in cultural context. Implications for self and family. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 36, 403-422. doi: 10.1177/0022022105275959 ] and [Keller, H. (2007). Children development across cultures. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates] have considered formal schooling as an engine towards the model of independence; however, the empirical evidence in this regard is inconclusive: while some studies found evidence of a relation between formal schooling and characteristics of AM, others did not. To solve this inconsistency, the present study compared orally narrated childhood memories of Mexican adults with three different levels of education (from rudimentary literacy to university). Results support a relationship between formal schooling and AM in the predicted direction: More educated participants reported longer, more specific and more self-oriented memories than those with less schooling experience did. Some gender differences were also observed, with males generally reporting more individually and less socially oriented memories than females, except for university level participants. We conclude that these results support Greenfield's theory about formal schooling as a sociocultural factor that promotes the cultural pathway to independence, as well as complexity and context-boundedness of gender differences in AM.

Only some attempts at meaning making are successful: The role of change‐relatedness and positive implications for the self

“…Some studies showed that years of education were related to more specific autobiographical memories in a clinical sample (Reid & Startup, 2010) and to earlier first memories in a normative sample (de la Mata et al, 2019;Kingo, Berntsen, & Krøjgaard, 2013). In a study of childhood memories, participants with more years of education provided longer and more self-focused memory reports (de la Mata et al, 2019). In terms of discourse skills, formal schooling fosters decontextualized discourse (Carrillo, de la Mata, & Maria, 2004).…”

New perspectives on childhood memory: introduction to the special issue

“…Moreover, the studies in the special issue reveal that a variety of social and cognitive factors influence the nature of childhood memories in children and adults (e.g., de la Mata et al, 2019;Sonne, Kingo, Berntsen, & Krøjgaard, 2019). They further suggest that social and cognitive factors may interact in determining whether the characteristics of early childhood memories are associated with particular environmental and individual variables.…”

Discussing a methodology for researching the long-term impact of music education: Drawing on learners’ memories and self-accounts

“…Tustin and Hayne (2019) "advised caution in evaluating adults' retrospective reports about childhood events that contain more information than a child of that age would be likely to encode at the time the event took place" (p. 93). Some studies also pointed out gender differences (de la Mata et al, 2019;Grysman & Hudson, 2013;Tustin & Hayne, 2019) and cultural differences (de la Mata et al, 2019;MacDonald et al, 2000) of retrospective remembering by young children. 3.…”