Autobiographical Memory and Emotional Experiences [Ongoing]

Background

Our autobiographical memory for personally experienced events (Conway & Pleydell, 2000; Williams et al., 2007) is essential to a sense of self and identity, for generating and maintaining emotions, goals, and personal meanings (Conway & Rubin, 2019), and for engaging in everyday tasks like problem solving (Jing, Madore & Schacter, 2016) and for conducting conversations with others (Alea & Bluck, 2007). There are early indications that our ability to flexibly retrieve different types of memories, our autobiographical memory flexibility, may be important in the onset and maintenance of depression (Hitchcock et al., 2019). Changes in autobiographical memory flexibility may lead to depression by first affecting our ability to solve problems, to reappraise our experiences, to connect with others, and to think constructively about ourselves. The present study aims to investigate this proposed relationship by following a cohort of participants over three time points, six months apart (for a total of one year).

Research Questions / Hypotheses

Our primary hypothesis is that problem solving skills and cognitive reappraisal skills will each partially mediate the effect of autobiographical memory flexibility on depressive symptoms. Our secondary hypothesis is that positive and negative self-beliefs will partially mediate the effect of autobiographical memory flexibility on depressive symptoms.

Participants

431 REP participants signed up to the study, and 315 REP participants completed the first time point of the study.

Methods

Online survey

Results

The hypothesised indirect effects will be assessed using mediation models (specifically latent change score models), whereby autobiographical memory flexibility at T1 indirectly predicts depression at T3, via cognitive reappraisal skills and problem solving at T2. Both simple and parallel mediation models will be assessed. A separate model will be completed with self-beliefs as the mediator to test the secondary hypothesis.

Implications

The current study is ongoing. The findings of our study will contribute to our understanding of the important factors in mental well-being in young adults and may open up new avenues for early intervention. The results of this study will be communicated in the form of a PhD thesis and in a paper submitted to an academic journal.