The Association between the Ability to Open up to Family Members and Autobiographical Memory among Midlife Adults

Live Poster Session: https://wesleyan.zoom.us/j/91293523227

Abstract: Autobiographical memory (AM) is composed of episodic content with semantic details. While it is widely studied among children in early development and adolescents, midlife adults are less often targeted. Past literature has identified a positive maternal influence on individuals’ AM (Fivush, 2011), and whether individuals have experienced childhood trauma showed a negative association with content clarity during memory recall as well as AM ability (Williams, 1996; Borrelli et al., 2024). Despite the positive relationship between conversation and memory retrieval with the help of elaboration and repetition, highlighting verbalization aids memory ability (Craik & Watkins, 1973; Staresina et al., 2008), other studies also suggested that during the constant bringing up of past events, memory is susceptible to change and may be distorted when the memory is cued or retrieved (Grysman et al., 2024). Using data from the sixth wave of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescents to Adult Health (AddHealth), this study was set to explore the influence of family interaction on AM ability among adults aged between 39 and 51, with a primary focus on openness to their family members. In this analysis, individuals who were able to open up to family members had greater odds of being able to recall the order of past events compared to those who were not, and biological sex and being let down by family members were significant predictors of AM ability. The discussion will explore the familial implications of these findings and the potential improvements for future research.

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