Observing the self, avoiding the experience? The role of the observer perspective in autobiographical recall and its relationship to depression in adolescence

ABSTRACT

The tendency to adopt an observer perspective (OP) when recalling autobiographical memories has been shown to be related to both avoidance and depression in adults. Very little research has examined this relationship in adolescents, however, and none of this work has adopted a longitudinal paradigm. This is an important gap in light of the marked escalation in rates of depression across the adolescent period. The current study therefore examined the concurrent and longitudinal (one year) relationships between observer perspective in the Minimal Instruction Autobiographical Memory Test (Mi-AMT; Debeer, E., Hermans, D., & Raes, F. (2009). Associations between components of rumination and autobiographical memory specificity as measured by a minimal instructions autobiographical memory test. Memory, 17(8), 892–903. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658210903376243), avoidance, and depression in a large, longitudinal sample of adolescents (mean age = 15.03 at T1). Consistent with predictions we found a significant but small cross-sectional correlation between OP and higher levels of depressive symptoms, however the relationship with avoidance was not significant. Contrary to predictions, the longitudinal relationships of OP with avoidance and depression were not significant. These findings raise the possibility that OP may be negligibly related to avoidance or depression during adolescence.

KEYWORDS:

• autobiographical memory
• observer perspective
• depression
• avoidance
• adolescents

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank LI for her assistance with statistical analysis and other members of the VUW Autobiographical Memory Lab for their help and support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, HHE, upon reasonable request.

ORCID

Hannah Hawkins-Elder http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3511-3908

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund.