Mother–child memory conversation and children’s independent memory: the roles of maternal characteristics

ALKIŞ A., İlgün Y., ŞAHİN ACAR B.

Memory, vol.32, no.8, pp.968-980, 2024 (SSCI) identifier identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 32 Issue: 8
  • Publication Date: 2024
  • Doi Number: 10.1080/09658211.2024.2373897
  • Journal Name: Memory
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, PASCAL, CINAHL, Linguistics & Language Behavior Abstracts, MEDLINE, Psycinfo
  • Page Numbers: pp.968-980
  • Keywords: attachment style, maternal sensitivity, Mother–child memory conversation, recounting, reminiscing, self-construal
  • Middle East Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Mother–child memory conversations are a nuanced and important factor in children’s memory development. The current study focuses on maternal characteristics that are related to individual differences in maternal elaborative style. It also examines the role of maternal elaborative style in children's elaborativeness in the context of reminiscing and recounting. Two hundred and nine Turkish mothers (Mage= 36.32, SD = 4.99) and their 5- to 6-year-olds (Mage in months= 66.88, SD = 4.04) (110 girls, 99 boys) participated in the current study. Results revealed that maternal individuation and balanced self-construal type predicted maternal elaborativeness, which in turn predicted child elaborativeness in reminiscing and recounting. Yet, such a relation was not observed for maternal attachment styles or sensitivity. Findings suggested the importance of maternal individuation and balanced self-construal for mothers’ and children’s elaborativeness in memory conversations.