From one generation to the next: perception of frequency of family memory transmission

Family serves as a crucial context for intergenerational memory transmission. From an early age, younger generations hear stories from older family members, fostering a sense of belonging, identity, and a deeper understanding of the world. However, the frequency of this intergenerational exchange in daily life remains underexplored. In an exploratory online study, we asked parents and grandparents how often they perceive sharing memories with younger generations (top-down) and how often children and grandchildren perceive receiving these memories (bottom-up). We assessed the perception of the transmission frequency for public and personal events across various timeframes. Our findings indicate that intergenerational memory transmission is perceived as relatively frequent. Notably, grandparents perceived sharing more memories with their children than the children perceived receiving from them. Transmission was also more common between parents and children than between grandparents and grandchildren. Additionally, personal memories were shared more frequently than public events, particularly when both transmitter and receiver had lived through the events. Correlations between perceived transmission frequency and the feeling of closeness suggested that grandparent-grandchild relationships benefit more from memory transmission than other pairs. These results highlight the varied ways in which individuals within families perceive memory transmission, emphasising the complex nature of intergenerational communication.