3-064 - Parent/Child Reminiscences About Emotion-laden Events: Links with Attachment Security, Emotion Knowledge, and Social Competence

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

The co-construction of autobiographical memory begins early in life and is interwoven with a range of developmental trajectories in social/emotional and cognitive domains. Because autobiographical memories imply some reflection on past experiences, this phenomenon is often studied in the context of conversations between the developing child and salient caregivers as they reflect on the child’s recent experiences, in particular, those giving rise to strong emotions. Results of these studies suggest that the adult’s conversational style in these conversations not only influences the child’s conversational style but also reflects aspects of the child/parent attachment relationship and of the adult’s own state of mind regarding attachment relationships. Recognition of the connections between attachment relationships and the processes underlying the co-construction of autobiographical memory has led to more nuanced hypotheses about how attachment may influence adult and child styles in their reminiscing conversations and about how both attachment and conversational styles might influence the child’s subsequent emotional and social competence.

In this symposium, an international panel of developmental scientists further assesses the complex interplay of attachment and parent/child conversational styles when talking about emotion-laden events and considers their joint implications for the child’s subsequent emotional understanding and social competence in the peer group. Importantly, three of the four studies in the symposium include European or Asian participants (non-English speakers) thus affording possibilities to replicate earlier findings from North American samples and to extend the scope of generalization for new research results.

Sub Unit

• Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Chairs

• Brian E Vaughn, Auburn Univ

• Manuela Verissimo, Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada (ISPA)

Individual Presentations

• Child Attachment Security in Relation to Mothers’ Secure Base Script Knowledge and Maternal Narrative Styles in a Korean Sample - Presenting Author: Nana Shin, Ewha Women's University

• Relations Between Mothers' Attachment Security and Elaborative/evaluative Talk: Moderated by Child Withdrawal and Emotion Valence - Presenting Author: Gabrielle Coppola, Universita G. D'Annunzio di Chieti; Sylvia Ponzetti, University "G. D'Annunzio" of Chieti-Pescara; Brian E Vaughn, Auburn Univ

• The contribution of mother-child and father-child communication, quality of attachment to the acquisition of emotional knowledge. - Presenting Author: Manuela Verissimo, Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada (ISPA); Ana Rebelo, ISPA-University Institute, Lisbon Portugal; Joana Maia, ISPA-IU; Bruno Ferreira, ISPA-IU; Brian E Vaughn, Auburn Univ

• Children’s Attachment Security, Memory Narratives, and Social Competence with Peers - Presenting Author: Kelly K. Bost, Univ of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign