Article

Effects of Maternal Features on the Relationship between Stress and Memory Accuracy in Children: with a Focus on Talk Style, Child and Maternal Attachment Stability

Author

Lee Seungjin

Information

pp. 1~18 / 2017 Vol.24 No.3

Abstract

This study aimed at examining the effects of parental features on the association between stress andmemory in 7-8-year-old children. Some studies in the literature support a positive relation between stressand children’s memory, while others support a negative relation. To address this inconsistency, this studyexamined parental features, more specifically their talk and attachments styles, in observing any correlationsto stress and memory in their children. The results generally supported a negative relationship betweenstress and child memory. With regard to parental features, children of emotion-oriented parents, who haveemotion-oriented conversations with their children about a stressful event, had more accurate voluntaryrecalls and higher resistance to misinformation than children of parents with other talk styles. The level ofchildren’s stress and parents’ attachment stability were significant predictors of voluntary recall in childrenwho had an emotion-oriented conversation with their parents before the stressful event. That is, parentswho have an emotion-oriented conversation tend to show high attachment stability, hence their childrenexperienced less stress during treatment, resulting in higher accuracy of recall. Based on these results, theauthor discusses various parental features that affect the relationship between stress and memory inchildren.

Keywords