The study of children's autobiographical memory development is directly related to children's cognitive development and to the protection children's future health and safety as a result of ongoing child maltreatment. Autobiographical memory development plays a central role in family interactions and the development of identity and sense of self both of which are related to future important outcomes for the child. Further, young children's scaffolded autobiographical memory is key in the prosecution of crimes against children--particularly in cases of child sexual abuse. Without successful recall attempts, children may remain in abusive situations which have direct consequences for their mental health. The proposed research examines the effect of ecological context on the relationship between adult scaffolding and children's event recall. The primary aim is to determine whether constraining the dyad affects the dynamic of the conversation between adults and children about past events (i.e., the processes of recall) and whether constraining the dyad affects the accuracy and completeness of the report (i.e., the products of recall). Contextual and ecological theories of child development, research on the effects of artificiality on memory, and a line of research conducted by the PI suggest that constraint in the dyad may affect both the processes and products of children's autobiographical memory production with adults The current project proposes the first direct examination of the effects of constrained and unconstrained contexts on the processes and products of children's event recall in a dyadic interaction. Children will recall a staged event after a one-month delay in 3 interview conditions: unconstrained dyads, matched constrained dyads with forensic interviewers, and matched constrained dyads with research assistants. Analyses will focus on differences between the constrained and unconstrained adult- child recall dyads in the completeness and accuracy of children's recall and the processes of children's recall when interacting with an adult scaffolder. Addressing these issues will advance our theoretical understanding of the role of dyadic interaction in children's event recall and will add to the generalizability of a large body of research based on non-dyadic examination of children's recall. Both study goals have direct applications to cognitive developmental contexts (i.e., parent-child navigation of the child's autobiographical past) and legal contexts tied to children's psychological health (i.e., forensic interviewer-child recall of sexual abuse). The goals of the current study have direct applications to children's cognitive development (i.e., parent-child navigation of the child's autobiographical past) and to the protection of children's future psychological health and physical safety as a result of ongoing child maltreatment (i.e., forensic interviewer-child recall of sexual abuse). Autobiographical memory development plays a central role in family interactions and the development of identity and sense of self both of which are related to important future achievement outcomes for the child. Further, young children's successful autobiographical recall is key in the prosecution of crimes against children without which children may remain in abusive situations with direct consequences for their mental health. ? ? ?
