Parent–Child Talk and Children’s Memory for Stressful Events

The relationship between parents’ styles of talking about past events with their children and children’s recall of stressful events was explored. In this investigation, 2to 5-year-old children’s recall of injuries requiring hospital emergency room treatment was assessed within a few days of the injury and again 2 years later, along with the way their parents reminisced with them about the event. Correlational analyses showed that age and parental reminiscing style were consistently related to child memory; regression analyses showed that although age was most important, parents who were more elaborative had children who recalled more during their initial interview about the harder-to-remember hospital event. Thus, an elaborative parental style may help children’s recall of even highly salient and stressful events. Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.