Parental influences on earliest memories

Recently, independent lines of research have indirectly supported the notion that social variables, especially parent–child relationships, have a significant impact on adults’ memories of their early life. In order to directly assess this Italian students were asked to recall as many memories involving parents as they could from before the age of 6 in a 3-minute timed recall task (i.e., memory fluency). They also filled out assessments about parental involvement in their lives as well as the quality of their relationships with their mothers and fathers. We found that, for males, the more involved the parents and the warmer the relationships between sons and both their mothers and their fathers, the more early memories, the more positive early memories, and the more episodic memories men recalled. For women, the warmer the relationship with their mothers, the earlier their earliest memory. Results are discussed in terms of gendered parent–child interactions as well as McAdam's emergent life-story theory.     

Parental influences on earliest memories

Recently, independent lines of research have indirectly supported the notion that social variables, especially parent-child relationships, have a significant impact on adults' memories of their early life. In order to directly assess this Italian students were asked to recall as many memories involving parents as they could from before the age of 6 in a 3-minute timed recall task (i.e., memory fluency). They also filled out assessments about parental involvement in their lives as well as the quality of their relationships with their mothers and fathers. We found that, for males, the more involved the parents and the warmer the relationships between sons and both their mothers and their fathers, the more early memories, the more positive early memories, and the more episodic memories men recalled. For women, the warmer the relationship with their mothers, the earlier their earliest memory. Results are discussed in terms of gendered parent-child interactions as well as McAdam's emergent life-story theory.     

Examining transactional influences between reading achievement and antisocially-behaving friends

The association between poorer academic outcomes and having antisocial friends is reliably demonstrated yet not well understood. Genetically sensitive designs uniquely allow for measuring genetic vulnerabilities and/or environmental risk in the association of antisocial friend behavior and poor school achievement, allowing for a better understanding of the nature of the association. This study included 233 pairs of twins from the Florida Twin Project on Reading. First, the role of antisocial friends as an environmental moderator of reading comprehension was examined. Antisocial friends significantly moderated the nonshared environmental variance in reading comprehension, with increased variation at lower levels of association with antisocial friends, with niche-picking indicated. Second, the role of reading comprehension as an environmental moderator of antisocial friends was examined. Reading comprehension significantly moderated the nonshared environmental variance in associating with antisocial friends, with increased variance at lower levels of reading comprehension and indication that common genetic influences contributed to higher reading achievement and better-behaved friends. In total, these results suggested reciprocal influences between reading achievement and antisocially-behaving friends. The impact of antisocial friends appeared to be limited in the extent to which they can undermine reading achievement, and high reading achievement appeared to support less association with antisocial friends.     

Factors affecting relationships of Turkish adolescents with parents and same-sex friends

The present study attempted to investigate the differences between Turkish late adolescents' relationships with their parents and friends by using Armsden and Greenberg's (1987) scales for measuring attachment. In addition, an attempt at determining predictors of different aspects of attachment was made. The findings were that (a) similar dimensions of attachment emerged from a factor analysis of Turkish data when compared with Armsden and Greenberg's factors, (b) the data provide evidence for the argument that relationships should be studied with an awareness that they exist within a sociological background that includes other relationships, and (c) regression analysis predicting different aspects of attachment indicated that different variables may be important as determinants of men's and women's relationships with significant others.     

Parental influences on academic performance in African-American students

We investigated the relationship between parental influences and academic outcomes for African-American students. Secondary data analysis was conducted on the National Survey of Family and Household data set. Multiple regression analysis showed that parenting style (nurture and control) and parental involvement significantly predicted academic outcomes. Research has traditionally focused on the reasons for the failure of African-American students to succeed in school. This study focused on factors that determine success. The problem of negative school outcomes may be alleviated by studying what works to promote school success rather than what does not work for African-American students.     

A distant mirror: Memories of parents and friends across childhood and adolescence

Memories that were easily accessible (i.e., quickly retrieved in a memory‐fluency task) of Italian university students were assessed. They were from four periods of life: preschool, elementary school, middle school, and high school/university. Half of the participants were instructed to recall only memories involving parents, and the other half memories involving friends. Across age at the time of remembered events, only memories of friends increased in frequency. For parental memories (but not friend memories), the proportion with negative affect increased over age, especially for males. There were also differences related to whether memories were episodic or generic. It was concluded that memories of different periods of childhood and adolescence can serve as a reflective mirror for developmental changes in parent–child and friendship relationships.     

The influences of partner accuracy and partner memory ability on social false memories

In this study, we examined whether increasing the proportion of false information suggested by a confederate would influence the magnitude of socially introduced false memories in the social contagion paradigm Roediger, Meade, & Bergman (Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 8:365–371, 2001). One participant and one confederate collaboratively recalled items from previously studied household scenes. During collaboration, the confederate interjected 0 %, 33 %, 66 %, or 100 % false items. On subsequent individual-recall tests across three experiments, participants were just as likely to incorporate misleading suggestions from a partner who was mostly accurate (33 % incorrect) as they were from a partner who was not at all accurate (100 % incorrect). Even when participants witnessed firsthand that their partner had a very poor memory on a related memory task, they were still as likely to incorporate the confederate’s entirely misleading suggestions on subsequent recall and recognition tests (Exp. 2). Only when participants witnessed firsthand that their partner had a very poor memory on a practice test of the experimental task itself were they able to reduce false memory, and this reduction occurred selectively on a subsequent individual recognition test (Exp. 3). These data demonstrate that participants do not always consider their partners’ memory ability when working on collaborative memory tasks.     

Recovered memories of alleged sexual abuse: Lawsuits against parents

Recently there has been increased civil litigation by adults suing parents and others for sexual abuse following the recovering of memories of the abuse through therapy. The memories are recovered with the help of therapists who use concepts such as repression and dissociation to account for the lack of memories and who then use techniques such as hypnosis and survivors' groups. However, the claims of repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse recovered in the course of therapy are unlikely to be supported by empirical data.     

Parental influences on self-regulation and achievement in children with adolescent mothers

The predictors of academic achievement and self-regulation in 95 high-risk children studied from birth were investigated during the second grade. Parenting, early maternal adjustment, child adjustment and temperament were hypothesized to predict the emergence of self-regulation. Although parenting, maternal adjustment, and child adjustment were related to achievement and classroom adjustment, they were not related to children's self-regulation, which was the strongest predictor of teacher ratings of academic performance, standardized achievement in math and reading, and classroom adjustment.     

Me Too!: Social modelling influences on early autobiographical memories

To investigate the malleability of early memories, 200 participants were asked to describe their earliest memories. Before doing so, approximately half were exposed to confederates who described very early memories such as their first steps or a second birthday party, while others were asked only to think about their earliest memories for two minutes before beginning writing. Participants who were exposed to confederate very early memories produced memories that were nearly a year younger on average than the memories reported by controls (2.99 years vs. 3.96 years). Additionally, when participants in the memory discussion condition were asked about an early event that a confederate had recounted they were more confident than controls that they could recall the event in their own lives. These results indicate that autobiographical memories for early events are quite susceptible to social influence and that simply hearing the very early memories of others can alter autobiographical memory. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Adolescent individuation in relation to parents and friends: Age and gender differences

The general aim of the study was to examine age and gender differences in various aspects of dependency needs and autonomy strivings of Slovene adolescents in relations to parents and friends. Another research question was whether the components of separation – individuation in relation to parents were related to four aspects of adolescent – friends relationships which resemble some aspects of separation – individuation (i.e., support seeking from friends, friends' idealization, successful separation, fear of losing friends' love). The questionnaires were given to 495 adolescents in Grades 7 to 12. Results showed that early adolescence is a period during which the most prominent changes occur in individuation process. In comparison with other groups, seventh graders showed the highest levels of dependency needs (i.e., high support seeking, high parental idealization). Another group of early adolescents (eighth graders) appeared to be the most ambivalent group as far as individuation towards parents is concerned. A pattern of successful individuation was most evident in the two late adolescent groups. Girls reported greater support seeking and more successful individuation from parents and friends than boys. On the other hand, boys showed more excessive autonomy strivings in their individuation, but they also reported more parental and friends' idealization than girls. We found a support for the thesis about positive associations between the aspects of separation – individuation that are reflected in adolescent – parents and adolescent – friends relations. However, the results also support the thesis that in the case of less satisfactory relations with parents adolescents can compensate for the deprivation of their dependency needs by an increased support seeking in their relations with friends.     

Adolescents' use of tobacco and alcohol: correlations with habits of parents and friends

Correlations for use of tobacco and alcohol of a Finnish sample of 321 adolescents (164 boys, 157 girls; age range 12-16 years) and those of their mothers, fathers, and best friends showed adolescents' use of both tobacco and alcohol correlated more with use by their friends than with parental use. The r for tobacco smoking was higher with maternal than with paternal smoking.     

Imagination equally influences false memories of high and low plausibility events

To examine the effects of event plausibility on people's false beliefs and memories for imagined childhood events, subjects took part in a three‐stage procedure. First, subjects rated how confident they were that they had experienced certain childhood events. They also rated their memories of the events. Second, 1 week later, subjects imagined one high, one moderate and one low plausibility event. Third, 1 week later (and 2 weeks after their initial ratings), subjects rated their confidence and memory a second time. Imagining the events made subjects more confident that they were genuine experiences and gave subjects clearer and more complete memories. Plausibility did not affect subjects' confidence but it did affect their memories. Subjects developed clearer and more complete memories for high, followed by moderate, followed by low plausibility events regardless of whether those events were imagined. We use a nested model of plausibility, belief and memory to discuss our findings. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Communication in relationships and adolescent substance use: the influence of parents and friends

This study focused on the openness of communication in teenagers' relationships with mother, father (or parental figure), and closest friend, and its correlation with teenagers' use of cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs. The predictive value for substance use of perceived pressure from friends, friends' substance use, and parents' substance use was also analyzed. The findings from questionnaires and interviews conducted with 37 students at an urban and a suburban/rural high school in New England are reported. The results suggest that the degree to which adolescents talk openly with their parents may influence the extent of their substance use. The presence of at least one "open" parental figure was associated with lower levels of all substance use. However, there was no evidence that openness with a close friend or perceived pressure from friends is related to substance use.     

Adolescent personality moderates genetic and environmental influences on relationships with parents

In contrast with early theories of socialization that emphasized the role of parents in shaping their children's personalities, recent empirical evidence suggests an evocative relationship between adolescent personality traits and the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship. Research using behavior genetic methods suggests that the association between personality and parenting is genetically mediated, such that the genetic effects on adolescent personality traits overlap with the genetic effects on parenting behavior. In the current study, the authors examined whether the etiology of this relationship might change depending on the adolescent's personality. Biometrical moderation models were used to test for gene- environment interaction and correlation between personality traits and measures of conflict, regard, and involvement with parents in a sample of 2,452 adolescents (M age = 17.79 years). They found significant moderation of both positive and negative qualities of the parent-adolescent relationship, such that the genetic and environmental variance in relationship quality varied as functions of the adolescent's levels of personality. These findings support the importance of adolescent personality in the development of the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship.     

Face category differentially influences face memories after a delay

ABSTRACT

Faces belonging to the same category as the perceiver are better recognised than faces from different categories when tested immediately. After a delay, the same-category benefit persists and response bias becomes more liberal for other-category but not same-category faces. These effects are typically attributed to better encoding of same-category than other-category faces. To determine whether bias effects after a delay persist when immediate accuracy differences are minimised, Hispanic and Caucasian participants were given more study time for other-category than same-category faces. Memory was tested immediately and after a two-day delay. Discrimination accuracy was higher for other-category than for same-category faces during both test sessions. Bias was equivalent immediately, but after the delay, bias was more conservative for same-category than for other-category faces, especially in Caucasian participants. These results suggest that post-encoding processes differentially influence face memories from different categories, which may have implications for evaluating face memory in everyday situations.     

Relative contributions of perceived mattering to parents and friends in predicting adolescents' psychological well-being

Perceived mattering is the psychological tendency to perceive the self as significant to specific other people. The central goal of this study was to examine whether adolescents' perceived mattering across social spheres (parents and friends) is addtive or compensatory in predicting adolescents' psychological well-being. Tests of the relative importance of adolescents' perceived mattering to parents and friends for psychological well-being were conducted using data from two convenience samples. Study 1 participants were, on the average, 17.5 yr. old and living in rural northwestern United States (N=128, 50% male, n=64; 50% female, n=64). Study 2 participants, on the average, were 16.9 yr. old, from a suburban western Canadian region (N=532, 51.4% male, n=273; 48.6% female, n=259). Hierarchical regression analysed with indicators of self-concept and behavioral misconduct as dependent variables used perceived mattering to parents and perceived mattering to friends and the interaction between these two variables as independent variables. Perceived mattering in both social spheres seemed the optimal condition for adolescents. Perceived mattering to friends "added" to perceived mattering to parents in explaining variance in assessments of psychological well-being in both studies.