Co-Constructing the Past

There are a variety of social, emotional and developmental outcomes in childhood.

We have found many are linked to parent-child reminiscing about past negative emotional events.

What we studied:

We examined how parents and children talk about past events and how these narratives influence children’s social and emotional development.

What we found:

Parents who reminisced in more adaptive ways (i.e., more emotional and elaborative style) had children who showed more empathic and prosocial behaviours. We also found that parent-child reminiscing was linked to children’s cognitive skills.

What's next:

We are extending this work by looking at how parent-child reminiscing about pain and sadness affects children’s development over time.

These research projects have been funded by the SSHRC Insight Development Grant and the SSHRC Insight Grant.

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Pain is real. Change the conversation.