PARENTAL STYLES OF TALKING ABOUT THE PAST

Past research indicates that mothers have different styles of reminisc ing with their children (e.g., R. Fivush & F. A. Fromhoff, 1988). This study examined fathers' styles of talking about the past as well. Mot hers and fathers from 24 2-parent families talked separately with thei r 3-year-olds about shared one-time events. Consistent with previous r esearch on mothers, parents displayed 2 distinct narrative styles. The styles were not associated with gender of parent. However, parents of daughters were generally more elaborative (i.e., they provided more n arrative structure and talked longer) than parents of sons. In turn, d aughters participated in the conversations to a greater extent than so ns, but sons and daughters had similar linguistic skills. Parents do n ot appear to be basing their narrative styles on the memory or languag e capabilities of their children. Instead. the practice of reminiscing may be a sex-typed activity.