Antalikova, Radka

de la Mata Benitez, Manuel

Gulbrandsen, Knut Arild

Hansen, Tia G. B.

English

   Family, school and friendship as settings for adolescents' autobiographical memories  R. Antalikova 1, K. Arild Gulbrandsen 1, M. de la Mata Benitez 2, T. Hansen 3  1 Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark 2 University of Sevilla, Spain 3 Aalborg University, Denmark  Contact e-mail: radonka@gmail.com  The relationship between autobiographical memories (memories of significant personal experiences from an individual's life) and self-construal has been investigated in a number of studies. These typically focus on cross-cultural comparison of memory characteristics and their concurrence with a particular type of self-construal, and have indeed shown significant differences across cultures. The role of others in self-construal and memories are important in this research. However, the role of others changes over the course of development, and very few studies have asked for memories from later than early childhood. Family, friends and school can be considered to be three main settings of the adolescent life. By using these as cue words for recalling autobiographical memories by adolescents, we targeted memories that are presumably the most significant to their present self-construals. We asked for memory descriptions to these cues from 66 adolescents (22 Norwegians and 40 Slovaks, both samples were gender balanced). We hypothesized that: a) family memories would be oldest and friend memories most recent, corresponding to a developmental trajectory where these three settings' shift in importance for self definition; b) the setting would also be related to memories' content, with autonomous memories being more often from school, and others being more mentioned in memories friends and family settings. We also explored cultural differences between the two nationalities. The results largely supported our hypotheses, suggesting that memories' characteristics vary with setting and reflect the changing role of family, school and friends for self construal during development. The pattern was the same for Norwegians and Slovaks, despite slight differences in magnitude between the two groups. 

Family, school and friendship as settings for adolescents’ autobiographical memories

https://vbn.aau.dk/ws/files/43729800/Family_school_and_friendship_as_settings_for_adolescents_autobiographical_memories_radka_tia

Family, school and friendship as settings for adolescents’ autobiographical memories

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