Characteristics of functional joint reminiscence in early childhood.

The present study was designed to investigate the impact of reminiscing goals on the style and content of joint mother-child reminiscence. In the study 53 mothers and their 4-year-old children were asked to discuss past events for the purposes of bonding and teaching lessons. Mothers' reminiscing style and level of autonomy support, child memory elaborations, and the evaluative, social, and didactic content of mothers' statements were coded. Mothers displayed higher levels of autonomy support, used more evaluative and social content, and focused more on specific events in conversations for bonding purposes. Conversations for the purpose of teaching lessons tended to include a greater focus on the child relative to others and a greater number of didactic statements. Further, mothers' level of autonomy support was associated with children's contributions in bonding conversations but not lesson conversations. Results are discussed in light of the functional nature of joint reminiscence.