The role of childhood and adulthood trauma and appraisal of self-discrepancy in overgeneral memory retrieval

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the contributory role of childhood and adulthood trauma events and the appraisal of self-discrepancy (the magnitude and distress) in overgeneral memory retrieval (OGM) using a non-clinical sample. Participants with a history of childhood trauma (n=29); adulthood trauma only (n=17) or no-trauma (n=26) participated in this study. The childhood trauma group showed a significantly higher level of general negative memory retrieval than the no-trauma group. Conversely, the adulthood trauma group showed a significantly higher level of general threat memory retrieval than the no-trauma group. The perceived similarity and distress relating to the perceived similarity between participants' “actual self” and “feared self” significantly predicted the level of OGM, even after controlling for the impact of a history of adult or child trauma.

Keywords:

• Overgeneral memory
• Childhood trauma
• Valance
• Self-discrepancy

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Melissa Holman and Benjamin J. Walters for their assistance during data collection.

Notes

¹We conducted hierarchical regression analyses both with and without ought/actual self-discrepancy. With ought/actual self-discrepancy, overall R ² improved to .243 for general negative memory and .268 for general threat memory. However, as a weak predictor, inclusion of ought/actual self-discrepancy resulted in decreased power. Given lack of an a priori theory to back this approach, we adopted a data-driven approach.