Autobiographical memory and evaluation of parental behavior.

Abstract

Recollection of autobiographical memory has been shown to be influenced by many factors. This study required subjects to focus their attention on either a favorable or unfavorable maternal parenting incident from their first 16 years in an effort to create a mood-inducing effect. The study was designed to be similar to information gathering techniques which are used in the clinical setting. Subjects consisted of 133 undergraduate students (34 men and 99 women) at a small, midwestern university who were tested on two occasions. The first testing was identical for all groups, at which time they completed a mood assessment and the PBI. At the second testing a control group and two experimental groups were created. All groups completed a mood assessment. At the second testing one group was told to recall a time in their first 16 years when they were disciplined too harshly by their mother or stepmother; the second group recalled a time when they were unexpectedly praised by their mother or stepmother. The control subjects did not focus their attention on any earlier parenting incident but were simply required to once again complete the PBI. Analyses of variance were run on the pre-and posttreatment PBI care scale scores. Analyses of variance were also run on the pre-and post-treatment mood assessment scores. No significant differences were found between groups at either pre- or post-treatment. The results indicate that focusing attention on either a favorable or unfavorable maternal parenting incident from childhood was not sufficient to significantly change the subjects' mood, or to cause them to change their evaluation of maternal care. Further study needs to be conducted before these results can be generalized to the clinical population.