Childhood amnesia and attachment styles

Abstract

This study was conducted to compare the end age of childhood amnesia, for different attachment styles. It was predicted that high avoidant adults’ end age was later than low avoidant adults’, whereas the end age for anxious adults was earlier than low anxious ones’ end age. This difference was anticipated to be valid for especially attachment-related memories, but not for emotional or neutral memories. Participants wrote down their twelve earliest childhood memories that were attachment-related, emotional, or neutral. For every recollection, they also answered memory characteristics questions. “Experiences in Close Relationships Scale” (ECR) was used as a measurement of attachment. The results showed that similar to other interdependent cultures, the end age for childhood amnesia for Turkish culture was found to be later than western cultures that value independency. Earliest memories were found to be neutral. Females had better recall of childhood memories than males. There was not found any difference among attachment styles for age of childhood memories for different levels of anxious and avoidant people. However, avoidant adults recalled marginally more neutral memories, and before the ages 4 and 5, marginally less positive attachment memories than low avoidants. They had also recalled marginally less positive emotional memories from the first 5 years of life. This study was crucial as it pointed out a possible relationship between the end age of childhood amnesia and attachment style, and had implications about the type of early memories and the end age of childhood amnesia inTurkish culture.