Self-defining memories in non-justice and justice-involved individuals: possible relations to recidivism.

Given the high rates of recidivism in adults, additional efforts in this area are warranted. In this paper, we provide a developmental perspective on self-defining memories, a specific type of autobiographical memory. We review the literature on self-defining memories in offenders and non-offenders high in psychopathic traits. Next, we present an empirically based conceptual framework regarding self-defining memories and recidivism, including a model of recidivism that integrates self-defining memories with identity, decision making, and behavioral processes related to recidivism. We then critique this model. We call for future research to test this model. Should results be fruitful, we discuss potential applications of this work.

Betrayal Trauma in Youth and Negative Communication During a Stressful Task.

Attachment-based theories and related research illustrate that emotion regulation develops in the context of a secure relationship between a child and caregiver. When a secure bond is broken, such as in the context of betrayal trauma, children fail to develop necessary emotion regulation skills which can lead to an array of relational problems. The current study examined the relations between betrayal trauma history, type of communication during a stressful interpersonal laboratory task, and emotion regulation difficulties in a sample of trauma-exposed adolescents. Results showed that adolescents with a betrayal trauma history reported more emotion regulation difficulties and exhibited more aggressive and fewer positive communication behaviors when engaged in a stressful interpersonal task with their mothers than did adolescents exposed only to nonbetrayal trauma. Emotion regulation difficulties mediated the relation between betrayal trauma history and negative communication. The clinical and developmental implications from these findings are discussed.

Narratives distinguish experienced from imagined childhood events.

The present study extends the reality monitoring framework by examining whether a portion of the phenomenal characteristics by which perceived and imagined events are theorized to differ appear in event narratives at different rates. The study analyzed the narratives of childhood events that participants either reportedly experienced or denied experiencing but imagined. Two types of events were included: emotional and neutral. In comparison to imagined events, participants' narratives of experienced childhood events were lengthier and contained a greater percentage of words indicative of cognitive processes. Imagined events contained a greater percentage of emotion words. There were no significant differences in perceptual processes. In some cases the findings differed significantly across the emotional and neutral events. This study provides the first available evidence that memory characteristics extend to narratives and thereby distinguish experienced from imagined childhood events.

Life stress and the accuracy of cognitive appraisals in depressed youth.

This study investigated the accuracy of depressed youths' appraisals of naturally occurring life events. Participants (49% girls; M age = 12.44 years) with clinical diagnoses of depression (n = 24), subsyndromal symptoms of depression (n = 29), and no symptoms of psychopathology (n = 36) completed semi-structured interviews of life stress. As predicted, depressed youth experienced more independent and self-generated interpersonal stress than did nonsymptomatic youth. Consistent with a cognitive bias, clinically depressed youth overestimated the stressfulness of events and overestimated their contribution to events relative to nonsymptomatic youth. Youth with subsyndromal symptoms demonstrated similar, although typically less severe, impairment than those with clinical depression. Results contribute to cognitive-interpersonal models of depression by illustrating the need to consider both realistic interpersonal difficulties and biased appraisals of experiences.

Is there touch in the game of Twister? The effects of innocuous touch and suggestive questions on children's eyewitness memory.

Preschool children (ages 48-70 months, N = 48) experienced 2 to-be-remembered events (i.e., the games Twister and Shapes) that included either innocuous bodily touch or no touch. Participants were interviewed 7 days later and asked direct ("Did Amy kiss you?") or suggestive "tag" questions ("Amy kissed you, didn't she?") equated for content. Results indicated that children who were innocuously touched were no more likely to falsely assent to "abuse-related" touch questions (e.g., "Amy touched your bottom, didn't she?") than were children who were not touched. However, children who were asked tag questions responded at chance levels, thereby making high errors of commission in response to abuse-touch questions relative to their no-tag counterparts who responded to "abuse questions" accurately 93% of the time. Children who were asked tag questions assented at a higher rate to general forensic questions ("Amy took your picture, didn't she?") than did children asked direct questions, and children assented at higher rates to "abuse-touch" questions than to general forensic questions. Results are discussed in terms of prior research on interviewing techniques and adult influence on children's testimony.