Parent–child relationships and quality of children’s episodic recall

Abstract

This paper explores the ability of five‐ to six‐year‐old children to remember past experiences. A set of stimuli cards modelled on adaptations of the Separation Anxiety Test was generated. Interview transcripts are scored for the child’s ability to recall past experience in episodic form. The quality of episodic recall is compared with attachment pattern and with quality of the dyadic mother–child interaction. Participants are 61 Western Australian children and their parents. There is a significant level of concordance between attuned dyads and the capacity of the child to relate complete episodes about past experiences. This capacity also relates to security of attachment at four–five years. The results are discussed in the context of the growing body of knowledge that suggests that the relationships parents have with their children shape their psychological world, in this case the child’s recall of episodes.

Keywords:

• children’s narrative
• episodic memory
• parent–child relationships

Notes

1. Originally presented as the YSAA, it was renamed the WAYC to better describe its purpose.