THE INFLUENCE OF MOOD ON MEMORIES OF PARENTAL REARING PRACTICES

Parental rearing styles are often found to be related to adult psychol ogical disorders. In general, conclusions are based on the data of ret rospective studies, in which patients' memories of their parents' beha viour are investigated. However, it has been widely recognized that me mories may be sensitive to current mood states. The possible mood sens itivity of autobiographic memories is a powerful alternative explanati on of the relationship commonly found between parental rearing styles and psychopathology, with implications for the hypothesis of early par enting as a vulnerability factor in the aetiology of such disorders. T he present study examined whether memories of parental rearing styles are influenced by present mood. To this aim, both mood and memories of parental rearing styles were assessed on two occasions in a sample of 315 healthy subjects from the general community (Study 1) and in a gr oup of 46 socially phobic patients (Study 2). Results showed that memo ries of early parenting remained quite stable, even in the face of sig nificant and considerable changes in anxiety, depression, and hostilit y. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are di scussed.