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149
Earliest Memories, Positive Emotional Memories of Warmth and Safeness
Epiphany: Journal of Transdisciplinary Studies, Vol. 9, No. 1, (2016) © Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
EARLIEST MEMORIES, POSITIVE EMOTIONAL
MEMORIES OF WARMTH AND SAFENESS AND
ATTACHMENT STYLE IN ADOLESCENTS
Senija Tahirović
International University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Mersiha Jusić
International University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Abstract
Research has shown that early childhood experiences, especially those related to feelings
of threat or safeness play a key role in subsequent emotional and social development. The
aims of the study are to explore the relationship between early memories of warmth, safeness
and attachment style in the life of adolescents and to dene specicities of earliest memories
with regard to the current attachment style. In order to explore relationships between earliest
memories, emotional memories of warmth and safeness, and current attachment style of
adolescents the research was conducted using a convenient sample of 167 public secondary
school students with average age of 17,22 years. The 63.47% of the participants were females,
whereas 36.53 % were males.. The questionnaire was adopted, Early Memories of Warmth
and Safeness Scale (EMWSS; Richter, Gilbert & McEwan, 2009), Memory Characteristics
Questionnaire (Johnson, Suenghas, Foley & Raye, 1988) and Adult Attachment Questionnaire
(Hazan & Shaver, 1990). Research ndings proved that emotional content of adolescents`
earliest memories is predominantly of joy (41.7%), fear (23.3%), sadness (8.6%), surprise
(8%), and anger (7.4%), etc. which is in line with previous research where the same or
similar methodology was followed. The rst memory was detected at 4.7 years of age, with
no signicant difference between males and females. However, females described their rst
memory in signicantly more words than males (t=-3.77, p<0,01). Results showed that securely
attached adolescents scored signicantly higher on EMWSS, compared to their insecurely
attached peers (t=3.27, p<0,001), while the difference between avoidant and ambivalently
attached adolescents was not signicant (t=1.80, p>0,05). Securely and insecurely attached
individuals did not differ in dimensions of vividness of earliest memory (H=1.127), emotional
valence (H=.178), and emotion intensity (H=.209, all p>0,05).
Keywords: Emotional Memory; Warmth and Safeness; Earliest Memories; Attachment Style;
Adolescents
Introduction
Adolescence, as a transitional period of rapid developmental changes, includes the task
of establishing a realistic sense of identity in the context of relationship with others and
learning to cope with stress and emotions. Therefore, it seems especially interesting to
explore some aspects of emotional memory and their relatedness to capability of adaptive
interpersonal functioning as construed by the concept of attachment. Literature has shown
that early childhood experiences, especially those related to feelings of threat or safeness
play a key role in subsequent emotional and social development (Gilbert and Perris,
2000). Early threatening experiences lead to greater vulnerability, psychopathology and
maladjustment in adulthood (Irons, Gilbert, Baldwin, Baccus and Palmer, 2006). On the
other hand, some argue that experiences of safeness in childhood contribute to regulating
affective states (Gilbert et al, 2006) and the recall of parental warmth is positively
Epiphany: Journal of Transdisciplinary Studies, Vol. 9, No. 1, (2016) © Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
DOI: 10.21533/epiphany.v9i1.211
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S. Tahirović
Epiphany: Journal of Transdisciplinary Studies, Vol. 9, No. 1, (2016) © Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
associated with ability to be self-reassuring and self-soothing in stressful situation (Irons
et al, 2006). In this way, parental behavior provides environmental context for both
children`s emotional and cognitive development (Gilbert and Perris, 2000). Attachment,
as proposed by Bowlby (1969), is based on the person’s ability to develop basic trust
in their caregivers and self. For infants, attachment as a motivational and behavioral
system directs the child to seek proximity with a familiar caregiver when they are alarmed
expecting that they will receive protection and emotional support. An infant needs to
develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for the child’s successful social
and emotional development, and in particular, for learning how to effectively regulate
their feelings. Early patterns of attachment, in turn, shape individual’s expectations in
later relationships.
Four different attachment classications have been identied among children:
secure attachment, anxious-ambivalent attachment, anxious-avoidant attachment, and
disorganized attachment. Secure attachment is when children feel they can rely on
their caregivers to meet their needs of proximity, emotional support and protection.
It is generally considered to be the best attachment style, associated with benecial
developmental outcomes. Anxious-ambivalent attachment is when the infant feels
separation anxiety when separated from his caregiver and does not feel reassured when
the caregiver returns to the infant. Anxious-avoidant attachment is when the infant
avoids their parents. Disorganized attachment is when there is a lack of attachment
behavior. Attachment applies to adults when adults feel close attachment to their parents
and their partners. Four styles of attachment have also been identied among adults:
secure, anxious-preoccupied, dismissive-avoidant and fearful-avoidant. These roughly
correspond to infant classications. Meanwhile, infants are: secure, insecure-ambivalent,
insecure-avoidant and disorganized/disoriented.
Securely attached adults tend to view themselves positively, their partners and their
relationships. They feel comfortable with intimacy and independence, balancing the two.
Anxious-preoccupied adults seek high levels of intimacy, approval and responsiveness
from partners, becoming overly dependent. They tend to be less trusting, have less
positive views about themselves and their partners, and may exhibit high levels of
emotional expressiveness, worry and impulsiveness in their relationships. Dismissive-
avoidant adults desire a high level of independence, often appearing to avoid attachment
altogether. They view themselves as self-sufcient, invulnerable to attachment feelings
and indivuduals who do not need close relationships. They tend to suppress their feelings,
dealing with rejection by distancing themselves from partners of whom they often have
a poor opinion. Fearful-avoidant adults have mixed feelings about close relationships,
both desiring and feeling uncomfortable with emotional closeness. They tend to mistrust
their partners and view themselves as unworthy. Like dismissive-avoidant adults, fearful-
avoidant adults tend to seek less intimacy suppressing their feelings.
The typical adolescent is moving away from parents as primary attachment gures,
relying more on the opinions and support of peers, and – whether consciously or not –
moving toward a time when his or her primary attachment gure will be a lover or spouse
rather than a parent (Hazan & Zeifman, 1994). Therefore, for many adolescents, romantic
relationships are an important source of extreme feelings, both positive and negative
(Larson & Asmussen, 1991).
Some argue that feelings of safeness are central to the development of secure
attachment bonds (Baldwin and Dandeneau, 2005; Bowlby, 1969). Securely attached
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Epiphany: Journal of Transdisciplinary Studies, Vol. 9, No. 1, (2016) © Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
individuals are signicantly more self-reassuring and warm toward themselves and more
trusting to others (Irons et al, 2006). Adolescents who grew up in warm and supportive
families report more positive friendships (Steinberg and Morris, 2001). It is important to
distinguish between the recall of how one felt in relation to family and parents, and their
actual behavior. This study focuses on the recall i.e. emotional memory of safeness and
warmth.
Studies on rst childhood memories have focused on a wide range of characteristics,
for example the age of onset and the emotional valence of these memories. Most researchers
agree that emotions are a key characteristic of rst childhood memories (Howes, Siegel,
& Brown, 1993; Kihlstrom & Harackiewicz, 1982; Mullen, 1994) but they do not agree
whether positive or negative emotion predominates in those memories. Some researchers
found more negative emotions in rst childhood memories (Cowan & Davidson, 1984;
Howes et al., 1993; Mullen,1994), while others reported more positive emotion (Kihlstrom
& Harackiewicz, 1982; Saunders & Norcross, 1988). Most researchers reached the
conclusion that rst childhood memories include range between three to four years of
age (Howes et al., 1993; MacDonald, Uesiliana, & Hayne, 2000; Mullen, 1994; Tustin &
Hayne, 2010). There is also evidence suggesting that childhood memories emerge even
earlier, at the age of two. In this study, we are interested in qualities of rst childhood
memories of adolescents with regard to their attachment styles.
Methodology
The aim of the study is to explore:
1. The relationship between early memories of warmth and safeness and
attachment style in adolescents
2. Specicities of earliest memories (emotional valence, age of onset, and other)
with regard to the current attachment style
With regards to participants and procedure, the research used a convenient sample
of 167 students in public secondary schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 106 of particpants
were females. Average age of participants was 17.22 years. Participation was voluntary;
participants were informed about the aim of study and ethical principles that are applied
in the research.
Instruments used in this research contained cover letter with basic information
about the research, general instructions and informed consent as well as three more
instruments:
Early Memories of Warmth and Safeness Scale (EMWSS; Richter, Gilbert &
McEwan, 2009)- a self-report questionnaire that measures recall of feeling warm, safe
and cared for in childhood, i.e. early positive memories of warmth and affection. It is a 21-
item scale rated on a 5-point Likert scale (0- never, 1- yes, but rarely, 2- yes, sometimes,
3- yes, often; 4- yes, most of the time). Originally, Richter and colleagues (2009) found a
single factor solution and a high Cronbach`s alpha of .97. The scale has not yet been used
in Bosnian samples. Translated version of EMWSS was administered to a pilot sample of
8 adolescents for comprehensibility. Minor adaptations were made, ensuring face validity
in further application.
Questionnaire about the earliest memory, including brief narrative description of
the rst childhood memory (preferably one participants remember themselves, not based
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on a photograph), with age approximation. Participants were asked to choose the emotion
they associated the memory with (joy, fear, sadness, surprise, anger, disgust, neutral,
or other). The characteristics of participants’ earliest memories were assessed using a
questionnaire- adaptation of the Memory Characteristics Questionnaire (MCQ; Johnson,
Suengas, Foley, & Raye, 1988). The MCQ is one of the most widely used measures
for evaluating the characteristics of autobiographical memories. In the adaptation of
the MCQ, ve dimensions of early memories were selected due to their relevance to
individuals’ internal working models of attachment relationships. Participants were to
rate each memory for the following memory characteristics: 1. Rehearsal: “How often
have you thought and/or talked about this memory?” (1 = never; 5 = very frequently). 2.
Importance: “How personally important is this memory to you?” (1= not important; 5 =
very important). 3. Vividness: “How detailed and clear is your memory?” (1 = very vague;
5 = very vivid). 4. Emotional Intensity: “How intense were your feelings at the time?” (1
= no emotion; 5 = very intense). 5. Valence of emotion: “Were your feelings at the time
negative or positive?” (1 = very negative; 5 = very positive). Participants’ ratings of the
memory`s emotional valence were used to identify negatively valence memories (i.e.,
scores of 1 or 2 on valence of emotion, 3 or 4 positively valences memories).
Adult Attachment Questionnaire (AAQ; Hazan and Shaver. 1990), consisting of
three brief prototypical descriptions of each attachment style (secure, dismissing, and
preoccupied), with participants selecting the style that best describes their feelings about
relationships with peers. The AAQ was used to assess attachment style, compared to
the more recent dimensional measures because of the ease of administration in large
groups, its brevity and its face validity (Crowell, Fraley, & Shaver, 1999). The AAQ
has been used among participants between the age of 14 and 82, from varying socio-
economic backgrounds (Shaver & Hazan, 1993), and has acceptable test-retest reliability
(Stein et al., 1998). Participants’ self-reported attachment style was used as a categorical
variable in the analyses. The three attachment styles are: Secure- describes their romantic
relationships as friendly, trusting, and happy. They accept their partners regardless of
faults. They tend to have long and fullling relationships. Avoidant- is haracterized as
being afraid of intimacy, experiencing emotional highs and lows during relationships,
along with much jealousy. Anxious/Ambivalent- is treating love in an obsessive way, with
strong need for constant reciprocation and validation, along with emotional highs and
lows, and feelings of jealousy. In instructions, it was made clear to the participants that
they need to read each of the three self-descriptions carefully and then place a checkmark
next to the single alternative that best describes how they feel in relationships or similar
to the way they feel.
Based on theoretical concepts and existing research ndings, we assume that:
H1 There will be a statistically signicant difference in early memories of warmth
and safeness among participants with different attachment styles.
• Sub hypothesis 1: Securely attached adolescents will score statistically
signicantly higher on EMWSS compared to insecurely attached adolescents
(ambivalent and avoidant)
• Sub hypothesis 2: There will be no statistically signicant difference between
ambivalently and avoidant attached individuals in early memories of warmth
and safeness
H2 Quality of earliest childhood memories will differ in securely and insecurely
attached adolescents.
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Epiphany: Journal of Transdisciplinary Studies, Vol. 9, No. 1, (2016) © Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
• Sub hypothesis 1: Securely attached individuals will report their memories at
earlier ages compared to insecurely attached
• Sub hypothesis 2: Securely attached individuals will report their memories in
more detail (words) compared to insecurely attached
• Sub hypothesis 3: Securely attached individuals will appraise their memories
as more vivid compared to insecurely attached
• Sub hypothesis 4: Securely attached individuals will appraise their memories
as more positive (emotional valence) compared to insecurely attached
• Sub hypothesis 5: Securely attached individuals will appraise their memories
as more intense in feelings compared to insecurely attached
Results and Discussion
Psychometric properties of EMWSS were examined rst, showing good internal
consistency measured by Cronbach alpha coefcient of 0.75, yet signicantly below
original 0.97 yielded in Richter and colleagues (2009).
Table 1. Psychometric properties of EMWSS with item-total correlations
Scale Mean
if Item
Deleted
Scale Vari-
ance if Item
Deleted
Corrected
Item-Total
Correlation
Cronbach’s
Alpha if Item
Deleted
I felt loved. 128.4578 421.741 .659 .739
I felt comfortable turning to people im-
portant to me for help and advice.
128.8012 417.627 .607 .737
I felt part to those around me. 128.3554 427.855 .442 .744
I felt loved even when people were upset
about something I had done.
128.8735 417.541 .538 .737
I felt happy. 128.6386 421.990 .564 .740
I had feelings of connectedness. 129.2289 417.887 .601 .737
I knew I could rely on people close to me
to console me when I was upset.
128.9940 414.188 .707 .734
I felt cared about. 129.0422 416.562 .646 .736
I felt secure and safe. 128.6627 422.528 .477 .741
I felt appreciated the way I was. 129.1747 418.594 .552 .738
I felt understood. 129.6867 413.356 .595 .735
I felt a sense of warmth with those around
me.
128.3916 425.828 .469 .742
I felt comfortable sharing my feelings and
thoughts with those around me.
129.6807 415.782 .464 .737
I felt people enjoyed my company. 129.1506 425.038 .402 .742
I knew I could count on empathy and
understanding from people close to me
when I was unhappy.
128.9699 415.157 .636 .735
I felt peaceful and calm. 128.9940 418.564 .545 .738
I felt that I was a cherished member of
my family.
128.5301 423.802 .525 .741
I could easily be soothed by people close
to me when I was unhappy.
129.0301 419.581 .465 .739
I had a sense of belonging. 128.9578 416.889 .687 .736
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I knew that I could count on help from
people close to me when I was unhappy.
128.8313 417.123 .653 .736
I felt at ease. 128.7831 417.456 .613 .737
Table 2. Descriptive statistics of EMWSS
N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation
EMWSS 166 23.00 84.00 66.030 10.48198
Both tables indicate that no item should be excluded from further scale calculations,
since that would not increase reliability, based on estimation of reliability in case of item
exclusion.
Normality of continuous variables was checked using Kolmogorov-Smirnov test,
showing that EMWSS scores are not statistically signicantly different from normal
distribution.
Descriptive values for age approximation of the rst memory are presented in
Table 3 below, showing that mean age of rst memory was 4.61 (SD=1.49). Compared to
other research, the average age of the rst memory is mostly between the age of 3.5 and
4.5. This iplies that the sample approximated rst memories slightly, but not signicantly
later.
Table 3. Descriptive statistics for age approximation of earliest memory
N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation Skewness
Age of rst
memory
166 23.00 84.00 66.030 10.48198 .606 .188
As for dominant emotions in earliest memory, joy is the most frequent emotion
(41.7%), followed by fear (23.3%), sadness (8.6%), surprise (8.0%), etc (Table 4). As
mentioned earlier, numerous studies agreed that emotions are a key characteristic of rst
childhood memories, they do not state whether positive or negative emotion predominates
in those memories. In an early study on emotional valence of childhood memories,
Dudycha and Dudycha (1933) asked 129 students to report their rst memory or memories
on a form, and to provide an age approximation, and a description of the emotion they
experienced. Compared with this one and similar research, it seems that our participants
also chose more positive memories compared to negative ones. It is important to note
though, that the emotional valence depends heavily on the format of the posed question.
Table 4. Dominant Emotions in First Memory
Frequency Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
joy 68 41.7 41.7
fear 38 23.3 65.0
sadness 14 8.6 73.6
surprise 13 8.0 81.6
anger 12 7.4 89.0
disgust 2 1.2 90.2
no feeling 14 8.6 98.8
other 2 1.2 100.0
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Epiphany: Journal of Transdisciplinary Studies, Vol. 9, No. 1, (2016) © Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Total 163 100.0
As for other qualities of rst memories, it is evident that there is a mild tendency
toward more frequent opinions about the rst memory, its greater personal importance,
its vividness, strength of feelings and positive valence, whose means are shown below,
in Table 5.
Table 5. Dimensions of rst memories
Frequency of
thinking Personal
importance of
the memory
Vividness
and liveli-
ness
Strength of
feelings Emotional
valence
N Valid 167 167 166 166 167
Missing 0 0 1 1 0
Mean 3.13 3.49 3.18 3.39 3.40
The same conclusion is more obvious if we look at percentages of participants who
reported on their rst memories. 31.7% of them reported they often/very often think about
their rst memory, while 22.8% reported they never or rarely think about it, remaining
45.5 % reported „sometimes“. As for personal importance of the rst memory, the most
participants (47,9%) reported their rst memory is important/very important to them,
11.4% reported it to be unimportant/mostly unimportant, while 40.7% reported it not to
be either. The most participants reported their rst memory to be medium in vividness
and details (63.5%), 24% vivid/very vivid and detailed, while 12.6% reported it to be
vague/very vague. The most participants (47.9%) reported strong/very strong feelings
in their rst memory, 31,1% medium, and 21% weak/very weak. As for the valence of
their rst memory, nearly half of the participants (49.7%) reported it to be positive/very
positive, 26,3% reported it to be negative/very negative, while the rest (24%) reported it
to be neutral. As it was mentioned earlier, different results about emotional valence can be
found in literature regarding childhood memories.
The study explored the differences between gender in approximation of age of the
rst memory, the length of rst memory description and scores on Early Memories of
Warmth and Safeness Scale, (Table 6).
Table 6. Descriptive statistics of basic variables with regard to participants` gender
Participant
Gender
N Mean Std. Devia-
tion
Std. Error Mean
Approximate Age of
First Memory
male 60 5.00 2.163 .279
female 106 4.56 1.622 .158
First Memory De-
scription
male 61 52.44 26.777 3.428
female 106 70.70 31.880 3.096
EMWSS male 61 63.9672 10.59397 1.35642
female 105 67.2286 10.27718 1.00295
T-tests for independent samples showed that girls reported on their rst memories
in greater detail (measured by number of words), compared to boys (t=-3.77, p<0,01), and
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expressed more early memories of warmth and safeness as well (t=-1.95, p<0,05). There
was no statistically signicant difference between sexes in approximate age of the rst
memory (t=1.49, p>0,05). There was no difference in current attachment style with regard
to participants’ sex (χ2=3.14, p>0,05 ), as shown in Table 7.
Table 7. Distribution of attachment styles for males and female
securely at-
tached
insecurely-
avoidantly
attached
insecurely-
ambivalent-
ly attached
Total Chi-Square
value
male 37 16 8 61 3.14
female 50 41 15 106 .208 (p)
87 57 23 167 df=2
Exploring correlations between dimensions of earliest memories showed
statistically signicant correlations between most of them, but not with scores on EMWSS
(Table 8).
Table 8. Correlations (Spearman’s rho) between dimensions of earliest memories
EMWSS Correlation
Coefcient
1.000 .110 .000 -.026 .142 .137
Sig. (2-tailed) . .157 .997 .740 .068 .079
N 166 166 166 165 165 166
Frequency
of thinking
about the rst
memory
Correlation
Coefcient
.110 1.000 .484** .309** .451** -.068
Sig. (2-tailed) .157 . .000 .000 .000 .380
N 166 167 167 166 166 167
Personal
importance
of the rst
memory
Correlation
Coefcient
.000 .484** 1.000 .408** .582** .275**
Sig. (2-tailed) .997 .000 . .000 .000 .000
N 166 167 167 166 166 167
Vividness
and liveliness
of the rst
memory
Correlation
Coefcient
-.026 .309** .408** 1.000 .436** -.004
Sig. (2-tailed) .740 .000 .000 . .000 .955
N 165 166 166 166 165 166
Strength of
feelings in the
rst memory
Correlation
Coefcient
.142 .451** .582** .436** 1.000 .049
Sig. (2-tailed) .068 .000 .000 .000 . .528
N 165 166 166 165 166 166
Emotional
valence of the
rst memory
Correlation
Coefcient
.137 -.068 .275** -.004 .049 1.000
Sig. (2-tailed) .079 .380 .000 .955 .528 .
N 166 167 167 166 166 167
**. Correlation is signicant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Frequency of thinking about the rst memory is statistically signicantly positively
correlated with importance of the memory (ρ=0.48), its vividness and liveliness (ρ=0.31,
p<0,01) and strength of feelings represented in the rst memory (ρ=0.45, all p<0,01).
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Basically, all three of these dimensions are strongly inter-correlated. Valence of feelings
in the rst memory, on the other hand, is statistically signicantly positively correlated
only with importance of the memory (ρ=0.27, p<0,01), but not with other characteristics,
meaning that the more positive the feeling represented in the rst memory, the more
important it is to the participant. This might indicate certain defense mechanism, as our
participants were attributing greater importance to memories with positive, compared to
those with negative feelings.
Hypothesis testing
In order to test our rst hypothesis, that predicted difference in early memories of warmth
and safeness depending on security/insecurity of attachment style of the participants, we
used t-test for independent samples (Table 9), that showed scores on EMWSS differed
among the two samples (t=3.27, df=164, p<0.001), thus conrming our hypothesis.
Securely attached adolescents scored higher on EMWSS, compared to their insecurely
attached peers. Therefore, the rst sub hypothesis was conrmed.
Table 9. Descriptive and t-test results for securely and insecurely attached on EMWSS
Attach-
ment
Style
N Mean Std. De-
viation
Std. Error
Mean
t df Sig.
(2-tailed)
EM-
WSS
Secure 86 68.5233 9.67073 1.04282 3.269 164 .001
Insecure 80 63.3500 10.71507 1.19798
The second sub hypothesis was also tested using t-test for independent samples
(Table 10), showing that there was no statistically signicant difference in EMWSS
scores between avoidant and ambivalently attached adolescents (t=1.80, p>0,05), thus
the second sub hypothesis was conrmed.
Table 10. Descriptives and t-test results for avoidantly and ambivalently attached adolescents on
EMWSS
Description of
current attachment
style
N Mean Std. Devia-
tion
Std. Error
Mean
t df Sig.
(2-tailed)
EM-
WSS
insecurely- avoid-
ant attachment
style
57 64.7018 10.25560 1.35839
1.801 78 .076
insecurely- ambiv-
alent attachment
style
23 60.0000 11.31773 2.35991
As our second hypothesis predicted differences in dimensions of earliest
memories between securely and insecurely attached adolescents. In order to test it, t-test
for independent samples was used in case of continuous variables involved in rst two
sub hypotheses (age approximation and length of rst memory description), as shown in
Table 11 below. There were no statistically signicant differences in these two depending
on attachment style (t=-0.19 and t=-1.33 respectively, both p>0,05). Therefore, the
predictions did not prove to be correct.
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Table 11. Differences in age approximation and description length of the rst memory between
securely and insecurely attached
Attach-
ment Style
N Mean Std.
Devia-
tion
Std.
Error
Mean
t df Sig.
(2-tailed)
Age ap-
proxima-
tion of
the rst
memory
Securely
Attached
86 4.5930 1.58951 .17140 -.191 164 .848
Insecurely
Attached
80 4.6375 1.38932 .15533
First
Memory
Description
Length
Securely
Attached
87 60.95 31.833 3.413 -1.327 165 .186
Insecurely
Attached
80 67.38 30.558 3.417
Third, fourth, and fth sub hypothesis predicted that securely attached adolescents
will report their memories as being more vivid, emotionally positive, and stronger in
feelings, compared to their insecurely attached peers. Considering the characteristics
of the variables, these predictions were tested using Kruskal-Wallis test of differences,
which is shown in Table 12 below.
Table 12. Rank descriptives of memory dimensions grouped by attachment style with Kruskal-Wallis
indicators
Attachment Style N Mean Rank Kruskal-
Wallis
df Asymp.
Sig.
Vividness of
First Memory
Secure 32 29.11 1.127 1 .288
Insecure 29 33.09
Total 61
Valence of First
Memory
Secure 66 62.91 .178 1 .673
Insecure 61 65.18
Total 127
Intensity of
First Memory
Emotions
Secure 62 56.95 .209 1 .647
Insecure 53 59.23
Total 115
Therefore, the third sub hypothesis did not prove right, as there was no statistically
signicant difference in dimension of vividness of earliest memory between securely and
insecurely attached participants (H=1.127, p>0,05).
Besides, the fourth and fth sub hypothesis did not prove right as well, as there
was no statistically signicant difference in valence and intensity of feelings reported
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in earliest memory between securely and insecurely attached adolescents (H=.178 and
H=.209, both p>0,05).
Conclusion
Emotional content of adolescents` earliest memories is predominantly of joy (41.7%), fear
(23.3%), sadness (8.6%), surprise (8%), anger (7.4%), etc. which is in line with previous
research using the same methodology.
The age approximation of the rst memory is 4.7with no signicant difference
between males and females. However, females described their rst memory in statistically
signicantly more words than males (t=-3.77, p<0,01).
As for dimensions of the rst memory (measured by MCQ), the most participants
reported their earliest memory to be important/very important to them, as well as of
strong/very strong feelings (47.9%). The most reported frequent/very frequent thinking
about their rst memory (47.9%). The most participants (63.5%) reported their earliest
memory to be moderately vivid, and 24% vivid/very vivid. Emotional valence in the most
of earliest memories is assessed as positive/very positive (49.7%), 26.3% negative/very
negative, 24% neutral.
Distribution of scores on Early Memories of Warmth and Safeness Scale was not
statistically signicantly different from normal distribution, using Kolmogorov Smirnov
test. However, females scored signicantly higher on EMWSS than males (t=-1.95,
p<0.05).
Almost all dimensions of early memories (frequency of thinking, importance, vivid-
ness, strength of feelings) inter correlated highly and positively, except emotional valence
that correlated only with personal importance of the memory (ρ=0.275, p<0.01), indicating
that the more positive the emotion the greater personal importance is attributed to it.
There was statistically signicant difference in early memories of warmth and
safeness between securely attached, insecurely-avoidantly and insecurely-ambivalently
attached adolescents (F=7.20, p<0.01), with securely attached individuals scoring the
highest on EMWSS, and insecurely-ambivalently attached scoring the lowest on EM-
WSS. Gender differences in attachment styles were not statistically signicant.
There was statistically signicant difference in early memories of warmth and
safeness depending on security/insecurity of attachment style of the participants (t=3.27,
p<0,001). Securely attached adolescents scored higher on EMWSS, compared to their
insecurely attached peers.
There was no statistically signicant difference between the two insecure attach-
ment styles (avoidant and ambivalent) in early memories of warmth and safeness (t=1.80,
p>0,05).
There were no statistically signicant differences in age approximation and length
of description between securely and insecurely attached adolescents (t=-0.19 and t=-1.33
respectively, both p>0,05).
There was no statistically signicant difference in dimension of vividness of earli-
est memory (H=1.127, p>0,05), emotional valence (H=.178, p>0,05), and feeling intens-
ity between securely and insecurely attached participants (H=.209, both p>0,05).
The research ndings presented in this paper provided signicant inuence on un-
derstanding of presence and characteristics of the early memories in adolescence period.
We also nd out that earliest memories and current attachment style of adolescents par-
160
S. Tahirović
Epiphany: Journal of Transdisciplinary Studies, Vol. 9, No. 1, (2016) © Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
ticipating in our research are correlated in specic ways as it was explained in research
ndings.
This research provides relevant ground for a new research focusing on qualitative
analyses of early memories with the aim to get answer on a question why those memor-
ies were important for children in preschool period and why they are still important for
adolescence period.
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