Personal narratives are integral to autobiographical memory and to identity, with coherent personal narratives being linked to positive developmental outcomes across the lifespan. In this article, we review the theoretical and empirical literature that sets the stage for a new lifespan model of personal narrative coherence. This new model…

The present study examined the socialisation of children's narrative ability across the preschool period, exploring the association between children's and mothers' narrative style and children's attachment security. Fifty-six children and their mothers engaged in past event memory conversations about everyday shared past experiences when the…

Reviews the literature on the role of self understanding, language, theory of mind, attachment security, and parental style in children's autobiographical memory development. Discusses evidence that social-cognitive factors appear to interact with parental style in producing children's first verbal memories. Emotional factors, such as attachment…