Autobiographical memory and trauma in adolescents

Several clinicians who work with traumatized children have noted that these children exhibit a poor autobiographical memory. The present study was a f irst attempt to subject this clinical impression to formal testing. Memory for autobiographical facts (i.e,, semantic autobiographical memory) was ass essed in 10 adolescents with an alleged history of trauma and 17 adolescent s without such a background. Results suggest that traumatized adolescents, indeed, have more difficulty with semantic personal memory than non-traumat ized adolescents. Implications of the present findings for future research on trauma and autobiographical memory in children and adolescents are discu ssed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.