A longitudinal study of processes predicting the specificity of autobiographical memory in the adolescent offspring of depressed parents

Deficits in specific autobiographical memory retrieval are closely associated with depression. The ability to retrieve specific autobiographical memories develops throughout childhood and adolescence and is associated with adolescent depression within and across time. Studying young samples before they first experience depression provides an approach for testing processes that underlie reduced autobiographical memory specificity. This study is the first to examine the longitudinal association of rumination and executive function with autobiographical memory specificity in a sample of adolescents at elevated risk for future depression. A total of 259 adolescents (aged between 10 and 18 years) completed the Autobiographical Memory Test at baseline and 1-year follow-up. Measures of rumination, executive function, and depressive symptoms were obtained at baseline. The interaction between rumination and executive function predicted autobiographical memory specificity over time. Whereas rumination in the context of low executive function predicted reduced specificity, this was not the case in the context of high executive function. The interaction between rumination and executive function was independent of the effects of age, gender, IQ, baseline levels of memory specificity, and depressive symptoms.