The investigation of mother-child remeniscing within the framework of individual and contextual variables of the mother and the child

The main aim of the present research is to investigate mother-child reminiscing in detail. To achieve this aim, we tested three models with a different focus. The individual and contextual determinants of the maternal and child elaboration behaviors are examined in the first model. We tested the mediation role of maternal and child elaboration in determining the child developmental outcomes in the second model. In the final model, we tested the moderation role of maternal attitudes towards reminiscing on the relationship between maternal elaboration and child developmental outcomes. This examination indicated the goodness of fit at the intra-individual level between one's behaviors and attitudes. The sample of the study consisted of 245 mother-child pairs (mothers: M = 34.95, SD = 5.16; children: aged 3.5-6.5 years, M = 4.90, SD = 0.80) residing in 35 different cities. In the study, the maternal and child elaboration behaviors and the children's autobiographical memory performance were evaluated based on two different tasks; individual and contextual factors related to the mother and child were assessed based on the mother's reports. Path analyses revealed that the mother's reflective functioning, autonomy support in reminiscing, the child's prosocial behaviors, and externalizing behaviors predicted the maternal elaboration; the mother's metacognition, mother's anxiety level, perceived income level, mother-child positive relationship, and the child's autobiographical memory predicted the child elaboration. The maternal positive context attitude towards reminiscing predicted both the maternal and child elaboration. In the second model, it was found that both the maternal and child elaboration were significant mediators between the maternal characteristics and the child developmental outcomes, indicating these mediators predicted the child outcomes through different mechanisms. In the final model, the badness of fit between the maternal attitudes towards reminiscing and maternal elaboration was found to negatively predict the child developmental outcomes. The findings of the present study indicate that (1) it is important to differentiate the determinants of maternal and child elaboration, (2) there is child-to-parent and parent-to-child effect in the reminiscing, (3) the maternal and child elaboration are related to the child developmental outcomes through different mechanisms, and (4) the fit between the maternal elaboration and attitudes towards reminiscing determines the direction of the role of elaboration on the child developmental outcomes.