Skip to main content
Search
Search
    Quick Search anywhere
    Quick search in Citations
Advanced Search
Skip main navigationClose Drawer MenuOpen Drawer Menu
Previous article
Next article
Full-Length Report

Remembering Positive and Negative Life Events

Associations with Future Time Perspective and Functions of Autobiographical Memory

Published Online:November 08, 2010https://doi.org/10.1024/1662-9647/a000017

Abstract

We examined distributions of remembered negative and positive life events across the lifespan in a sample of adults in middle and old age. Distributions of positive, but not negative, life events showed a significant reminiscence bump, replicating earlier findings. Gender differences occurred with respect to distribution of memories of positive life events of the first four decades of life. Furthermore, we found substantial associations of number and valence of remembered life events with future time perspective and functions of autobiographical memory to create meaning, which remained significant after controlling for age and health. The number and valence of negative and positive life events across the lifespan reflect, to a certain extent, the age and time perspective of the remembering individual.

References

  • Berntsen, D., Rubin, D. C. (2002). Emotionally charged autobiographical memories across the lifespan: The recall of happy, sad, traumatic, and involuntary memories. Psychology and Aging, 17, 636–652. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Bluck, S., Habermas, T. (2001). Extending the study of autobiographical memory: Thinking back about life across the lifespan. Review of General Psychology, 5, 135–147. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Bluck, S., Alea, N., Habermas, T., Rubin, D. C. (2005). A tale of three functions: The self-reported uses of autobiographical memory. Social Cognition, 23(1), 91–117. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Brandtstädter, J., Wentura, D. (1994). Veränderungen der Zeit- und Zukunftsperspektive im Übergang zum höheren Erwachsenenalter: Entwicklungspsychologische und differentielle Befunde [Changes in time perspectives and attitudes toward the future during the transition to later adulthood: Developmental and differential aspects]. Zeitschrift für Entwicklungspsychologie und Pädagogische Psychologie, 26(1), 2–21. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Butler, R. N. (1963). The facade of chronological age: An interpretative summary. American Journal of Psychiatry, 119, 721–728. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Carstensen, L. L. (1995). Evidence for a life-span theory of socioemotional selectivity. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 4(5), 151–156. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Carstensen, L. L., Pasupathi, M., Mayr, U., Nesselroade, J. R. (2000). Emotional experience in everyday life across the adult lifespan. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 644–655. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Conway, M. A., Pleydell-Pearce, C. W. (2000). The construction of autobiographical memories in the self-memory system. Psychological Review, 107, 261–288. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Erikson, E. H. (1973). Identität und Lebenszyklus [Identity and life cycle]. Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Ferring, D., Hoffmann, M. (2007). “Still the same and better off than others?” Social and temporal comparisons in old age. European Journal of Ageing, 4, 23–34. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Filipp, S.-H. (1996). “Wie schön war doch die Jugendzeit ...” – Lebensrückschau im Alter [Youth was so wonderful ... Life review in old age.]. In R. Schumann-Hengsteler H. M. TrautnerEds., Entwicklung im Jugendalter (pp. 217–238). Göttingen: Hogrefe. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Filipp, S.-H. (1999). A three-stage model of coping with loss and trauma: Lessons from patients suffering from severe and chronic disease. In A. Maercker M. Schützwohl Z. SolomonEds., Posttraumatic stress disorder. A lifespan developmental perspective (pp. 43–78). Seattle, WA: Hogrefe & Huber. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Filipp, S.-H., Aymanns, P. (2009). Kritische Lebensereignisse und Lebenskrisen. Vom Umgang mit den Schattenseiten des Lebens [Critical life events and life crises. Coping with the dark sides of life]. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Habermas, T., Bluck, S. (2000). Getting a life: The emergence of the life story in adolescence. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 748–769. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Hepp, U., Gamma, A., Milos, G., Eich, D., Ajdacic-Gross, V., Roessler, W. , ... Schnyder, U. (2006). Inconsistency in reporting potentially traumatic events. British Journal of Psychiatry, 188, 278–283. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Hobson, C. J., Kamen, J., Szostek, J., Nethercut, C. M., Tiedmann, J. W., Wojnarowicz, S. (1998). Stressful life events: A revision and update of the Social Readjustment Rating Scale. International Journal of Stress Management, 5, 1–23. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Janoff-Bulman, R., Frieze, I. H. (1983). A theoretical perspective for understanding reactions to victimization. Journal of Social Issues, 39(2), 1–17. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Jansari, A., Parkin, A. J. (1996). Things that go bump in your life: Explaining the reminiscence bump in autobiographical memory. Psychology and Aging, 11(1), 85–91. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Lang, F. R., Carstensen, L. L. (2002). Time counts: Future time perspective, goals, and social relationships. Psychology and Aging, 17(1), 125–139. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Leist, A. K. (2008). Autobiographisches Erinnern kritischer Lebensereignisse. Die Stiftung von Kohärenz im Lebensrückblick [Autobiographical remembering of critical life events. The creation of coherence in life review] (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ubt.opus.hbz-nrw.de/volltexte/2008/479/ First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Mather, M., Carstensen, L. L. (2005). Aging and motivated cognition: The positivity effect in attention and memory. Trends in Cognitive Science, 9, 496–502. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • McAdams, D. P. (1996). Personality, modernity, and the storied self: A contemporary framework for studying persons. Psychological Inquiry, 7, 295–321. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Neugarten, B. L., Hagestad, G. O. (1976). Age and the life course. In R. Binstock E. ShanasEds., Handbook of aging and social sciences (pp. 35–55). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Nezlek, J. B. (2001). Multilevel random coefficient analyses of event- and interval-contingent data in social and personality psychology research. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 771–785. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Rubin, D. C., Berntsen, D. (2003). Life scripts help to maintain autobiographical memories of highly positive, but not highly negative events. Memory and Cognition, 31(1), 1–14. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Rubin, D. C., Schulkind, M. D. (1997). Distributions of important and word-cued autobiographical memories in 20-, 35-, and 70-year-old adults. Psychology and Aging, 12, 523–535. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Schrauf, R. W., Rubin, D. C. (1998). Bilingual autobiographical memory in older adult immigrants: A test of cognitive explanations of the reminiscence bump and the linguistic encoding of memories. Journal of Memory and Language, 39, 437–457. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Settersten, R. A. (2003). Age structuring and the rhythm of the life course. In J. Mortimer M. ShanahanEds., Handbook of the life course (pp. 81–98). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Shum, M. S. (1998). The role of temporal landmarks in autobiographical memory proc2esses. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 423–442. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Staudinger, U. M. (2001). Life reflection: A social-cognitive analysis of life review. Review of General Psychology, 5, 148–160. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Webster, J. D. (1993). Construction and validation of the Reminiscence Functions Scale. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 48, P256–P262. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Webster, J. D., McCall, M. E. (1999). Reminiscence functions across adulthood: A replication and extension. Journal of Adult Development, 6(1), 73–85. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Wheaton, B. (1999). The nature of stressors. In A. V. Horwitz T. L. ScheidEds., A handbook for the study of mental health: Social contexts, theories, and systems (pp. 176–197). New York: Cambridge University Press. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Wong, P. T., Watt, L. M. (1991). What types of reminiscence are associated with successful aging? Psychology and Aging, 6, 272–279. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar