Cultural patterns in autobiographical memory of childhood: Comparison of Chinese, Russian, and Uzbek samples

Abstract

In the present study, I examined whether the regular patterns of variables that referred to mental representation of the entire childhood in young adults might be associated with the different types of cultural selves proposed by Kagitcibasi's model of family change. In this model, three types of cultural selves (heteronomous-related self, autonomous-separated self, and autonomous-related self) are merged with culturally specific styles of parenting and childhood experience. Chinese, Russian, and Uzbekistani participants (N = 439) visualized their childhood on timelines. The exploratory factor analysis suggested a three-factor solution. Factor 1 combined memories of achievements and vicarious memories; that is, memories representing events that happened to other people. In my point of view, in contrast to "we-memories," vicarious memories portray a readiness to view other people as a valuable part of one's own life, but in the context of well-defined self-boundaries. Therefore, they denote the kind of relatedness which does not contradict autonomy. Because Factor 1 was found to be the most articulated in the Chinese sample, it was linked to the autonomous-related self, with the focus on directive function of autobiographical memory. Factor 2 was composed of the abundance of recollections, the early age of first memory, and prolonged childhood. Due to the highest scores being achieved on Factor 2 in the Russian sample, it was attributed to the autonomous-separated self, employing predominantly a self-reflective function of autobiographical memory. Factor 3 consisted of memories of attending social groups, positive emotional bias, and a tendency to mention one's own birth. Taking into account that the Uzbeks achieved the highest scores on this factor, it was interpreted as a mnemonic database of a heteronomous-related self, predominantly associated with social bonding and emotion regulation functions. Taken together, the findings highlight the assumption that childhood memories reveal a cultural self.

Keywords: autobiographical memory of childhood; cross-cultural differences; cultural self; Kagitcibasi's model of family change; vicarious memories.