Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA.
J Exp Child Psychol. 2021 Mar;203:105021. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2020.105021. Epub 2020 Nov 24.
Mother-child reminiscing, particularly maternal sensitive guidance, fosters the development of autobiographical memory specificity (AMS) in both typically developing and maltreated children, yet little is known regarding the processes underlying individual differences in maternal reminiscing that could also relate to child AMS. Emerging evidence has shown that maternal AMS is associated with maternal sensitive guidance in typically developing dyads. We extended this research to the context of maltreatment, a risk factor for impoverished maternal sensitive guidance and reduced AMS in children. In the current study, we evaluated the indirect effect of maternal AMS on child AMS through two dimensions of maternal reminiscing style-sensitive guidance and elaboration-while including parallel pathways between neglect and abuse/emotional maltreatment and child AMS through maternal reminiscing. Participants were 123 neglecting, 30 abuse/emotional maltreating, and 78 demographically matched nonmaltreating mothers and their 3- to 6-year-old children. Results indicated that maternal AMS was indirectly associated with child AMS through maternal sensitive guidance while controlling for associations among neglect, maternal reminiscing, and child AMS, providing evidence for intergenerational transmission of AMS in at-risk dyads. These results advance the understanding of mechanisms underlying both maternal sensitive guidance and child AMS in a low-socioeconomic-status and racially diverse sample.
母婴回忆，特别是母亲的敏感指导，促进了自传体记忆特异性（AMS）在正常发育和受虐待儿童中的发展，但对于能够与儿童 AMS 相关的母亲回忆个体差异的潜在过程知之甚少。新出现的证据表明，母亲的 AMS 与正常发育的母子关系中的母亲敏感指导有关。我们将这项研究扩展到了虐待的背景下，这是母亲敏感指导减少和儿童 AMS 减少的一个风险因素。在当前的研究中，我们通过母亲回忆风格的两个维度——敏感指导和详细阐述，评估了母亲 AMS 对儿童 AMS 的间接影响，同时还包括忽视和虐待/情感虐待与儿童 AMS 之间通过母亲回忆的平行途径。参与者包括 123 名忽视儿童、30 名虐待/情感虐待儿童和 78 名在人口统计学上与之匹配的非虐待儿童的母亲及其 3 至 6 岁的孩子。结果表明，母亲 AMS 通过母亲敏感指导与儿童 AMS 间接相关，同时控制了忽视、母亲回忆和儿童 AMS 之间的关联，为高危对子代 AMS 的传递提供了证据。这些结果在一个低社会经济地位和种族多样化的样本中，推进了对母亲敏感指导和儿童 AMS 背后机制的理解。
