Development and psychometric properties of a new measure for memory phenomenology: The Autobiographical Memory Characteristics Questionnaire

The purpose of this study is to develop a valid and reliable measure for the phenomenology of autobiographical memories. The psychometric properties of the Autobiographical Memory Characteristics Questionnaire (AMCQ) were tested in three studies: the factor structure of the AMCQ was examined for chi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Memory (Hove) 2015-10, Vol.23 (7), p.1070-1092
Main Authors: Boyacioglu, Inci, Akfirat, Serap
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Autobiographical memory
Emotions
Female
Humans
Individuality
Life Change Events
Male
Memory, Episodic
Narration
Phenomenology
Pilot Projects
Psychometrics - statistics & numerical data
Reliability
Reproducibility of Results
Scale development
Sex Factors
Statistics as Topic
Surveys and Questionnaires
Validity
Young Adult
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Summary:The purpose of this study is to develop a valid and reliable measure for the phenomenology of autobiographical memories. The psychometric properties of the Autobiographical Memory Characteristics Questionnaire (AMCQ) were tested in three studies: the factor structure of the AMCQ was examined for childhood memories in Study 1 (N = 305); for autobiographical memories related to romantic relationships in Study 2 (N = 197); and for self-defining memories in Study 3 (N = 262). The explanatory factor analyses performed for each memory type demonstrated the consistency of the AMCQ factor structure across all memory types; while a confirmatory factor analysis on the data garnered from all three studies supported the constructs for the autobiographical memory characteristics defined by the researchers. The AMCQ consists of 63 items and 14 factors, and the internal consistency values of all 14 scales were ranged between .66 and .97. The relationships between the AMCQ scales related to gender and individual emotions, as well as the intercorrelations among the scales, were consistent with both theoretical expectations and previous findings. The results of all the three studies indicated that this new instrument is a reliable and robust measure for memory phenomenology.
ISSN:0965-8211
1464-0686
DOI:10.1080/09658211.2014.953960