Remembering Negative Childhood Experiences: An Attachment Theory Perspective

This chapter begins with a brief overview of attachment theory. It then reviews empirical findings from various laboratories on significant relations of attachment with children's memory and suggestibility for emotional, attachment-evoking information, focusing on (1) associations between children's attachment and their memory/suggestibility for attachment-related information, and (2) associations between parents' attachment and children's memory/suggestibility for such information. The chapter considers potential mechanisms underlying the relations. It also discusses the information-processing stages (e.g., encoding, retrieval) during which the attachment effects may be operative.