How do children make sense of their experiences? Children's memories of wellbeing and distress from an attachment perspective (Impact factor 1,495)

Attachment's role in children's memories of wellbeing and distress was evaluated through the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task in 30 Italian children, aged 6 years (15 secure and 15 insecure). Their mothers' coherence of discourse was determined using the Adult Attachment Interview. A mediation model examining whether children's attachment mediated the relation between mothers' ability to talk coherently about their past and children's memories was tested. Children's attachment was associated with their ability to describe memories of wellbeing and distress and mediated the influence of maternal coherence on the same ability. A regression model was estimated to further evaluate the association between children's attachment and ability to describe memories. Results suggest that attachment influences how children understand and recollect emotional experiences.