ABSTRACT
Across childhood and adolescence, children are drawn into increasingly complex family reminiscing, narratives that help them construct and understand not only their own personal experience but also the experiences of others, especially of their parents. Although significantly more complicated in structure and content than dyadic parent–child reminiscing, family reminiscing contributes to the scaffolding of children’s developing personal narratives. The ecological model of family narratives assumes that individual autobiography is embedded in larger family and cultural narrative interactions. In the inner layer, the child’s personal autobiographical memories are influenced by his or her characteristics, such as genetic predispositions, temperament, and gender. Parentally guided narratives about the child’s personal experiences, about shared family experiences, and about the intergenerational past continue to predict positive child outcome in terms of self-understanding and emotional regulation.
