The role of attachment and cognitive inhibition in children’s memory and suggestibility for a stressful event

There has been increasing interest in children’s abilities to report memories of and resist misleading suggestions about distressing events. Individual differences among children and their parents may provide important insight into principles that govern children’s eyewitness memory and suggestibili...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of experimental child psychology 2002-12, Vol.83 (4), p.262-290
Main Authors: Weede Alexander, Kristen, Goodman, Gail S, Schaaf, Jennifer M, Edelstein, Robin S, Quas, Jodi A, Shaver, Phillip R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affect
Anxiety
Attachment
Attachment Behavior
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Child development
Child, Preschool
Children
Cognition
Developmental psychology
Emotion
Emotional Distress
Eyewitness memory
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Individual Differences
Inhibition
Inhibition (Psychology)
Life Change Events
Male
Memory
Memory development
Object Attachment
Parent Attitudes
Parent Child Relationship
Parents
Predictor Variables
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Recall (Psychology)
Repression, Psychology
Response Inhibition
Stress Variables
Suggestibility
Suggestion
Surveys and Questionnaires
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Summary:There has been increasing interest in children’s abilities to report memories of and resist misleading suggestions about distressing events. Individual differences among children and their parents may provide important insight into principles that govern children’s eyewitness memory and suggestibility for such experiences. In the present study, 51 children between the ages of 3 and 7 years were interviewed about an inoculation after a delay of approximately 2 weeks. Results indicated that parents’ attachment Avoidance was associated with children’s distress during the inoculation. Parental attachment Anxiety and the interaction between parental Avoidance and children’s stress predicted children’s memory for the inoculation. Cognitive inhibition was also a significant predictor of children’s memory errors and suggestibility. Theoretical implications concerning effects of stress and individual differences on children’s eyewitness memory and suggestibility are discussed.
ISSN:0022-0965
1096-0457
DOI:10.1016/S0022-0965(02)00149-2