Reduced autobiographical memory specificity in bereaved Afghan adolescents

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of bereavement (father death due to war in Afghanistan) on autobiographical memory specificity in Afghan adolescents living in Iran. Participants consisted of bereaved (n=70) and non-bereaved (n=33) Afghan adolescents. The measures included Farsi versions of the Autobiographical Memory Test, Mood and Feeling Questionnaire, Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, and Impact of Event Scale. Results indicated that the bereaved group retrieved a significantly lower proportion of specific memories and a significantly greater proportion of extended and categoric memories than the non-bereaved group. Additionally, depression symptoms and reduced autobiographical memory specificity were significantly correlated. These findings suggest that bereaved adolescents have impaired autobiographical memory specificity.

Keywords:

• Autobiographical memory
• Depression
• Bereavement
• Adolescence

Laura Jobson is funded by an NIHR fellowship. This research was funded by the Children andWar Foundation.We would like to thank Dr Tim Dalgleish for his comments on this paper.

Laura Jobson is funded by an NIHR fellowship. This research was funded by the Children andWar Foundation.We would like to thank Dr Tim Dalgleish for his comments on this paper.

Notes

¹ As the proportions of specific, categoric, extended, and semantic associates for each cue type were not normally distributed and transforming the data did not achieve normal distribution, analyses were also conducted using non-parametric tests and the results did not differ. Additionally, the results were analysed accounting for the unequal sample sizes. The pattern of the results did not differ. For further details about these analyses contact the last author.

² To account for the data not being normally distributed, Spearman correlations were used.