Different forms of childhood abuse and memory

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Memory Studies
• Trauma Research

Background:

• Controversy surrounds recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse.
• Limited empirical data exists on the prevalence and nature of these memories.
• The relationship between child abuse history and general childhood memory is under-examined.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the prevalence and nature of memory gaps related to childhood abuse.
• To explore the relationship between a history of child abuse and general childhood memory quality.
• To examine whether recovering forgotten childhood events is linked to a history of abuse.

Main Methods:

• Surveyed 429 nonclinical participants.
• Assessed histories of sexual, emotional, and physical abuse.
• Investigated reported periods without memory for abuse.
• Examined the quality of general childhood memory.
• Assessed the recovery of previously forgotten childhood events.

Main Results:

• Similar proportions reporting sexual (19.8%), emotional (11.5%), and physical abuse (14.9%) also reported memory gaps for their abuse.
• Memory gaps appeared to stem from both lack of conscious access and intentional avoidance.
• Variance in general childhood memory quality was unrelated to abuse history.
• Recovering previously forgotten childhood events was also unrelated to abuse history.

Conclusions:

• Memory gaps for abuse experiences are reported across different types of abuse and may involve both passive and active forgetting.
• A history of childhood abuse does not appear to impact the overall quality of general childhood memory.
• Recovering forgotten childhood memories is a normative process, not necessarily indicative of prior abuse.