Abstract
Introduction:
The functions of autobiographical memory have been studied primarily in adult populations using self-report measures. Many studies have focused on mother-child reminiscing, but memory functions have rarely been coded as they emerge in conversations. In the current study, we investigated the functions of mother-adolescent reminiscing using a mixed-method approach.
Methods:
Thirty mother-adolescent dyads (M adolescent age 15 years) talked about three shared past events elicited by sadness, anger, and happiness. Each utterance was coded through thematic analysis.
Results:
With a qualitative approach, we examined each utterance; sub-themes emerged, which converged in self-, social, and directive functions. Emotion regulation themes were also observed within the three functions, most prominently the directive. With a quantitative approach, we analyzed differences in the frequency of the functions and found that mothers' speech emphasized social and directive functions, while adolescents' emphasized self-function.
Discussion:
Findings are discussed in terms of methodological, developmental, and cultural aspects of autobiographical memory functions.
Mother-child conversations about past experiences are a significant topic in autobiographical memory development. As shown by meta-analyses (Waters et al., 2019; Wu and Jobson, 2019), mothers' reminiscing style with high elaborativeness (i.e., asking open-ended and close-ended questions, making context statements) was associated with improved memory and socioemotional skills. This finding has been supported by correlational, longitudinal, and experimental studies among both typically and atypically developing children (see , for a review). In addition to maternal elaborations about event details, previous studies have also examined maternal emotional talk style. For instance, researchers have investigated how mothers regulate their children's emotions through cognitive and behavioral approaches (Wang and Fivush, 2005), the degree to which they provide emotional support and attributions (), and their use of emotion coaching behaviors (). There is a substantial literature on mother-child reminiscing during the early childhood period because these conversations are the hallmark of memory and socioemotional development. In the current study, we aimed to expand the literature by focusing on the adolescence period as a less studied yet important developmental period for autobiographical memory development. We sought to investigate the functions of mother-adolescent memory conversations in Türkiye and develop a coding scheme for the functions. In the introduction that follows, we first explain the Turkish cultural context, especially in terms of memory conversations, then describe the developmental significance of the adolescence period, and finally outline the framework of autobiographical memory functions.
How parents reminiscence with their children about emotional events is a sociocultural process that varies across cultural milieus (Wang, 2018). Parents who hold individualistic or independent values—such as European American and Australian parents— often employ a more child-centered, highly elaborated style of reminiscing with a focus on the child's emotions. In contrast, parents who emphasize interdependence (e.g., Chinese parents) focus more on the moral rules for group harmony instead of child-centered emotional talk, also with a less elaborative style (Wang, 2001; Wang and Fivush, 2005; Wu et al., 2020). Yet, these processes are nuanced; in a study comparing Germany with an independent orientation with Mexico and Costa Rico with interdependent orientations, maternal structural elaborations did not show differences across cultural contexts, while differences in social orientations were observed (Schröder et al., 2013). Therefore, it is important to examine mother-child reminiscing in different and less studied cultural contexts, such as Türkiye.
In general terms, Türkiye has been categorized as a collectivistic culture () with high relatedness values (). More recent studies suggest that with modernization, Turkish families from middle-class urban regions have begun to hold more individualistic and autonomous values. Nevertheless, relatedness and group harmony remain significant (Sunar and Okman Fişek, 2005). Across generations, child independence and expressing negative emotions within the family have become more encouraged. At the same time, suppression of negative emotions remains salient (Sunar, 2002). In addition to examination of the Turkish cultural context as homogeneous, studies have also investigated sub-cultural differences. For instance, adolescents from Western regions of Türkiye reported less perceived control compared to Eastern regions ().
When considering how these differences apply to mother-child reminiscing, some studies have examined diverse regions of Türkiye with different cultural practices and others have focused on self-construals, reflecting cultural values. Mothers from Western Türkiye showed a more elaborative style than mothers from Eastern Türkiye, while both Turkish cultural groups had a lower elaborative style than US mothers (). Other studies from Türkiye have explored the role of self-construals—-individuation and relatedness—-and found that mothers with higher individuated self-construal () and mothers with a more balanced self-construal (i.e., high in both individuation and relatedness) () have a more elaborative style of reminiscing. Thus, not only the cultural context but also self-construals seem to have a role in shaping maternal reminiscing style. In addition to reminiscing style, another study examined why Turkish parents reminiscence with their children, and found that parents frequently reported socio-emotional and directive purposes (Yarar, 2025). Overall, studies about parent-child conversations from the Turkish cultural context have mainly covered the early childhood period with an emphasis on reminiscing style. Below, is an example from the current study, in which a Turkish mother and her adolescent daughter recalled a happy event that they had shared.
Mother (M): Do you remember our happy memories? Which one stands out to you?
Adolescent (A): Yes, we bought bracelets together.
M: Do you remember how I decided on that? I thought to myself, I have two beautiful daughters and one son, but I want my beautiful girls to have lovely gifts. That way, they'll have something to remember me by in the future, and it will make them happy. I think you were happy.
A: I was.
M: How did you feel when you heard my reasoning?
A: I felt very happy. I realized how much you think about me.
M: Of course, mothers always think of their daughters. They think of their sons, too. I hope you keep it for a lifetime. It's become a memory for us. That day went really well, didn't it?
A: Yes, we walked around the mall afterward.
M: Do you remember what else we did?
A: We went to eat desserts.
The conversation showcases several functions of memory that may differ depending on the characteristics of participants, the emotions being discussed, and the context in which the reminiscing occurs. The mother discusses her daughter's emotions and the reasons behind them, which serves social bonding purposes and offers guidance for the future. The daughter focuses on her own emotions and thoughts about the event, potentially supporting a distinctive sense of her evolving self. When mother and daughter revisit event details, the mother takes a leading role and scaffolds her daughter's memory, yet the discussion is more complex and reciprocal than it might have been with a younger child. Although the memory is about a happy event, not particularly intense or negative emotions that require resolution, the mother focuses on the emotional aspects of the memory along with event details. The Turkish cultural context is also evident; consistent with cultural dictates, the mother transmits moral lessons to her daughter in talking about the past. This example demonstrates how developmental period and cultural context are important to consider when examining the functions of mother-adolescent memory conversations.
The developmental period of the child participating in a memory conversation is critical to consider. Two life phases may be particularly important to investigate: (1) early childhood, or the preschool years, in which autobiographical memories start to emerge with the co-construction process between parents and children, and (2) adolescence, during which memories are integrated into a meaningful life story or life narrative (). Studies have indicated that maternal reminiscing style during early childhood leads to long-term outcomes in adolescence. For instance, adolescents whose mothers had been more elaborative during their preschool years reported earlier memories (). Similarly, adolescents whose mothers received training about elaborative reminiscing while they were young children narrated their memories with a more causal coherence ().
These long-term consequences of early reminiscing indicate the significance of studying adolescence. Identity exploration is an important task for adolescents () and goes hand-in-hand with building a more coherent sense of their own life story. As adolescents develop improved cognitive and socioemotional skills, they may rely less on parental scaffolding when constructing their life stories (). Still, parents continue to play an important role in scaffolding narrative identity development, even more so than friends (). Relatedly, found that mothers provided more elaborations and greater emotional resolution in conversations with their adolescents than did friends. Mother-adolescent reminiscing has also been studied in terms of adolescents' socioemotional adjustment. For example, found that mothers' use of elaborative questions predicted better resolution of vulnerability for adolescents, especially among older adolescents who might have more serious difficulties and need more scaffolding. Moreover, an unsupportive style of maternal reminiscing (i.e., dismissing the importance of events accompanied by a lack of emotional discussions) has been associated with greater adolescent anxiety (). Taken together, memory conversations during adolescence support narrative identity development and socioemotional adjustment. However, the contribution of adolescents to these conversations might have been overlooked. Therefore, we aimed to examine mother-adolescent conversations with a reciprocal and functional emphasis in the current study.
A functional approach provides a framework for how people use their autobiographical memories. Early empirical work demonstrated that individuals use their memories to share experiences, provide information, and describe themselves to others (). Building on this foundational work, one of the most widely used classifications reflected three functions: self-, social, and directive (). Self-function is characterized by creating a sense of continuous self across past, current, and future selves. When individuals, particularly younger adults, report a less consistent self-concept, they draw on autobiographical memories to understand who they are and what kind of a person they want to be (). Self-function often refers to the aspect of self-continuity, while some studies have also included the identity aspect of self (). Social function focuses on the social bonds between individuals, such that when people share their memories with other people, they feel closer to each other (). Three components of social function have been identified: teach/inform, intimacy, and empathy (). When people share memories, they teach and inform each other about the important aspects of their relationship with each other. This sharing process increases intimacy, and may also enhance empathy between people. Finally, the directive function emphasizes guiding our behaviors based on our memories. More specifically, we can take lessons from our mistakes, find a solution to our problems, and make future plans (). Functions of autobiographical memory could be measured in several different ways, one of which is through Thinking about Life Experiences (TALE) Questionnaire (; ), and another is through narrative coding (Waters et al., 2014). Questionnaires rely heavily on individuals' own judgements about remembering and might not capture remembering processes comprehensively. Narrative coding for the functions focuses on individual remembering and does not include the memory sharing context, which is a significant and relatively distinct process of remembering regarding the functions (). Thus, it is important to examine the functions in daily conversations. Yet, to the best of our knowledge, coding for autobiographical memory functions in memory conversations do not exist in the related literature, which might provide further insight about both autobiographical memory functions and memory conversations.
In addition to this tripartite model of memory functions, emotion regulation has also been examined within the context of memory. However, no consensus has been reached as to whether it represents a distinct fourth function or remains integrated within the primary three (; Sow et al., 2023). In the widely used self-report measure, TALE, it is regarded as a part of the directive function, because regulating current emotions based on past experiences can be envisioned as part of directing behavior (). Whether or not people are motivated to regulate their emotions, sharing memories may result in their doing so (). In one study, recalling positive memories among those serving self, social, and directive functions enhanced participants' mood (Wolf and Demiray, 2019). Similarly, after recalling negative memories and experiencing negative emotions, people tended to recall memories that would regulate those emotions, suggesting an emotion regulation function ().
From a developmental perspective, mother-child reminiscing might specifically focus on teaching children how to regulate their emotions with the help of past experiences (Wang and Fivush, 2005; Yang et al., 2020). Even so, emotion regulation is closely intertwined with other functions and is best characterized as part of them. For example, Kulkofsky and colleagues (2009) considered mothers' purposes for regulating their children's emotions to be part of the directive function. introduced the term narrative emotion regulation and suggested that reminiscing about emotionally negative events could result in greater emotional understanding and regulation. They focused on parents' scaffolding role in adolescents' narrative emotion regulation. Wang et al. (2015) found that adults reported greater knowledge of self-, social, and directive functions compared to children, while children reported adult-like levels of knowledge about emotion regulation as a function of autobiographical memory. In sum, while people may be motivated to regulate their own or others' emotions while remembering past experiences, emotion regulation seems to be intertwined with other functions, especially the directive function.
It is important to consider how these functions have been assessed in prior research to recognize and overcome the methodological gaps. Previous studies have mostly drawn on adult populations. One of the most widely used methodologies to assess functions is the TALE questionnaire (; ). There are also experimental studies investigating the adaptive outcomes of remembering, such as increased intimacy (), exercising (), and donation behavior (). Furthermore, examined married couples' memory conversations, analyzing the conversational functions of autobiographical memories within adult relationships. Still, there is a need to assess the functions in more naturalistic and ecologically valid contexts.
While the tripartite model of functions in adult remembering is well established, less is known about how they operate in parent-child reminiscing, although some studies have investigated this. For example, when mothers were asked an open-ended question about why they reminisce with their children, their answers aligned with self-, social, and directive functions (). Likewise, developed the “Caregiver-child Reminiscence Scale” to investigate why parents engage in joint reminiscing with their preschool-aged children, and also found dimensions corresponding to the three functions. Additionally, they identified more developmentally oriented functions, such as cognitive skills (e.g., test the child's memory) and peer relationships (e.g., repair relations with the child and friends). Another line of research used coding schemes in order to investigate the functions during mother-child reminiscing. In addition to coding maternal elaborations and emotional talk, researchers explored mothers' attempts to direct their children's behaviors, teach lessons, and resolve negative emotions (Wang and Fivush, 2005). These functional motivations by mothers are evident in different cultural contexts with some differences (Wang, 2004a). For instance, the Western cultural context emphasized an independent self, close relationships based on voluntary interactions, and problem solving with a more pragmatic approach, whereas the Eastern cultural context emphasized an interdependent self, protecting social harmony and hierarchy, and giving moral and didactic lessons as a sign of directing behavior. In one study, European American mothers used a more “cognitive approach” while regulating their children's emotions, such that they focused more on the reasons for the child's emotions, whereas Chinese mothers used a more “behavioral approach” by providing moral lessons to teach socially appropriate ways of expressing and regulating emotions (Wang and Fivush, 2005). Nevertheless, individual differences do exist, and are as important as cultural differences in this line of research (; Wang, 2004b).
Studies investigating the functions of mother-child reminiscing have primarily focused on young children. The functions in such conversations often reflect maternal scaffolding, e.g., the directive function may involve directing the child's behavior, or the self-function may emphasize the child's self-concept (; ). Once the child is an adolescent, conversations become more reciprocal, and mothers adjust their conversational style based on adolescent contributions (). Adolescence is also the period when autobiographical memories are integrated into a meaningful life story. Therefore, investigating both mothers' and adolescents' perspectives during the co-narrating process is particularly valuable. Adolescence provides a fruitful developmental context in which there is still a need for maternal guidance while adolescents' developing cognitive and socioemotional skills enable them to contribute to the conversations in a more sophisticated manner.
Building on theory and prior research, we aimed to address two interconnected gaps in the literature: (a) the lack of a coding scheme for functions within mother-adolescent memory conversations with a focus on both family members, and (b) the underrepresentation of the adolescence period and the Turkish cultural context in autobiographical memory research.
The Turkish cultural context—predominantly interdependent yet showing increasing trends toward independence— offers a particularly fruitful setting for exploring memory functions. Hence, we examined Turkish mother-adolescent dyads' conversations. We employed a mixed-method approach. First, we investigated the functions of mother-adolescent conversations in a detailed way using qualitative methods, and developed a coding scheme for the functions (self-, social, and directive) that could be applied both currently and in future research. To develop the coding scheme, we used the thematic analysis method explained under procedures below (). In addition to producing the coding scheme, this analysis allowed us to examine in a nuanced way the thematic sub-types that made up each of the functions, to get a full sense of how they appeared in the context of mother-adolescent memory discussions. In addition to the three functions, we examined emotion regulation themes, which we expected to co-occur with the other functions. Second, after applying the coding scheme and measuring the frequency of the functions, we examined differences in the functions with quantitative analyses. We expected that mothers' speech would emphasize social and directive functions due to their scaffolding role in memory conversations, while adolescents' speech would emphasize the self-function as an indication of their identity and life story development.
Materials and methods
Participants
Thirty mother-adolescent pairs participated. Adolescents' age range was 13.19–16.81 (M = 15.19, SD = 1.11); 18 (60%) were female, and 12 were male. Mothers' age range was 31–58 years (M = 46.20, SD = 6.31). Mothers' highest level of education was as follows: 17 (57%) graduated from elementary school, four (13%) graduated from high school, and nine (30%) had an undergraduate or graduate degree.
Procedure
The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the authors' university. Home visits were carried out by the first author and one trained assistant. The procedure, detailed below, took place in the following order: first, the researcher explained the study to participants; second, mother-adolescent dyads chose three past events to talk about; third, they participated in the reminiscing task, and fourth, mothers completed a demographic information form.
Participants were told that the study was about how mothers and adolescents talked naturally about past events, and were instructed that their conversations would be recorded. Before reminiscing, participants decided on three emotionally charged shared past events, focusing alternately on sadness, anger, and happiness. The events were required to be one-point-in-time experiences that the mother and adolescent had participated in together. After participants finalized the events to talk about, reminiscing instructions were provided. The researcher asked participants to talk about event details and their emotional experiences in whatever way was natural for them; event order was predetermined and counterbalanced across participants. The researcher suggested participants talk for approximately 5–10 min about each event, but emphasized that they should talk in the typical way and for however long they normally would. After providing all instructions, including how to record the conversations, the researcher left the room, and participants were asked to inform the researcher when they finished talking. The duration of the conversations ranged between 1 min, 20 s and 7 min, 6 s (M = 3 min, 25 s) for sadness, 1 min and 9 min, 56 s (M = 3 min, 14 s) for anger, and 50 s and 7 min, 33 s (M = 2 min, 52 s) for happiness. The demographic form mothers completed asked for information about age and education.
Coding
The audio recordings of the conversations were transcribed and then coded through thematic analysis, described in detail below. A single researcher coded all of the data, as is common in qualitative research. The quality of the analysis is ensured though six iterative steps laid out in thematic analyses (), rather than testing reliability and validity through quantitative approaches. Therefore, reliability coding was not conducted on the current data set. Still, few studies integrate quantitative analyses into qualitative research, and we sought to confirm that the final coding scheme was applicable to quantitative studies. The final coding scheme was applied in a subsequent quantitative study on a large dataset with high interrater reliabilities reported ().
Thematic analysis, which combines bottom up and top-down elements, is optimal when there is no pre-existing coding scheme, as in this case. Data are screened in detail with a bottom-up approach, yet the theoretical foundation for the coding scheme established from the literature is also incorporated, which reflects the top-down approach. A similar approach has been used in previous memory studies (; 2010). Based on the six steps used in thematic analysis (), the researchers first familiarized themselves with the data, generated initial codes, and searched for themes. During these three stages, each utterance was examined individually to determine whether it had a function, and, if so, was assigned to a sub-theme identified by the researchers, in accordance with an empirically driven method of theme identification (Stemler, 2015). Then, during the fourth and fifth stages, reviewing and defining themes, consistent with a theoretically-driven method these sub-themes were converged into the main themes that aligned with the major functions identified in the literature. Hence, we used an emergent coding model, which falls in between empirically-driven and theoretically-driven models (Stemler, 2015). (The sixth stage is the writing and reporting of results.)
Following prior coding schemes (; Wang and Fivush, 2005), each coding unit–an utterance–consisted of a subject-verb combination. When a “yes-no” answer was given to the questions, these utterances, even without full propositions, were also coded based on the nature of the answer. The coding of the three functions (i.e., self-, social, and directive) was mutually exclusive. We examined each utterance one-by-one and evaluated its functional purpose. The definition of the functions comes from the literature about how the functions have been conceptualized and measured in previous studies, especially from the TALE. Self-function is mostly conceptualized and measured as self-continuity (), as well as identity (). The social function included empathy, teach/inform, and intimacy aspects of social relationships (). The directive function focused on problem solving, future planning and lesson learning ().
For most cases, an utterance represented one of the three functions, such as when it included self-related information and was coded for the self-function. In a few instances, an utterance might have represented more than one function. In these cases, the coder determined the main function of that utterance and coded for that function. For instance, one adolescent said “I think it was ridiculous to be accused.” This utterance might represent both self-related and directive purposes, yet its focus was thought to be more on the self-function. Emotion regulation themes were coded separately; thematic analysis of the dataset made clear that they co-occurred with the other three functions, rather than as a separate category. Details of the sub-themes that constituted each of the functions, and examples of emotion regulation, are explained in the section below.
Results
Qualitative analyses
In the following sections, f represents the total number of coded utterances and N represents the number of dyads in which the function was observed.
Social function
The social function was the most frequent among the functions (f = 1233, N = 30). The sub-theme of attempts to nurture the relationship referred to the intimacy and empathy uses of the social function. For instance, acknowledging each other's thoughts and emotions could be considered enhancing the social bond between mother and adolescent. In one conversation about sadness, an adolescent who had cut his hand showed concern for his mother, saying, “You get lightheaded at the sight of blood. You were so scared and so sad.” In another example, the adolescent was sad because of an argument with a friend, and the mother was empathetic. The mother's utterances, such as “you were very influenced by that event,” “you loved her so much,” and “you were very sad” were also coded for this sub-theme. Elaborative questions about the events, when they included the intention to understand the conversational partner's condition, feelings, or thoughts, were other examples of this sub-theme. In one conversation, the adolescent had been anxious due to the mother's surgery, and the mother asked, “What did you do when I was in the surgery?” “How did the process influence you?,” and “Were you scared when I was having an operation?”
The other sub-theme of sharing one's perspective refers to the teach/inform use of the social function. Sometimes the events included arguments between mothers and adolescents, and they had a motivation to explain their own perspective in that situation while focusing on what needed to be done to improve their relationship. In one conversation, the adolescent was sad because her mother did not allow her to go out with her friends. The following utterances illustrate this sub-theme:
A: You didn't allow me to go. You said, “you can't go.”
M: But it was too late to go.
A: No, it wasn't.
M: You gave me the wrong information about the meeting time. It really frustrated me.
When the participants expressed their emotions with social purposes, such that they still wanted to discuss the relationship, as in the above example, those utterances were coded for the social function. If they expressed their emotions for self-related purposes, then they were coded for the self-function. (See self-function section below.)
The final sub-theme was relationships with others. This sub-theme also referred to the teach/inform use, but it focused on relationships with other people, such as other family members, friends, or teachers. In a conversation about anger, the adolescent had experienced a problem with her sister. The mother said, “I think it's wrong that your sister doesn't listen to you” and the adolescent responded, “She won't wait when I tell her to.” In another conversation, the adolescent was sad because she had argued with her friend. She said, “We have never been close after that event,” and the mother said, “You can't be close after saying bad words.” These utterances showed that social relationships have some requirements, and individuals may teach or inform about these requirements during conversations.
Self-function
Self-function was the second most frequently mentioned function (f = 625, N = 30). Three sub-themes were identified as expressing emotions, personal thoughts and interests, and physical self . Explicit attributions to emotions like “I became very happy when we bought a cat” and “I felt very sad when he teased me about my weight” were examples of expressing emotion sub-theme.
Referring to emotional states with behavioral utterances like crying or laughing without explicitly stating them were coded as personal thoughts and interests. This sub-theme also included what participants had thought about the event back when it occurred (e.g., “I decided to lose weight”) or their current thoughts during conversations while making references to who they were (e.g., “I don't like these types of behaviors”). When one adolescent was explaining a situation with his teacher, and he said, “I think it was ridiculous to be accused. I felt uncomfortable due to this accusation. I thought it was unfair.” These examples show that individuals share their thoughts about the situation to express who they are to their conversational partner.
The last sub-theme, physical self , included physical characteristics such as “I was very little” and “I was beautiful.” This was not a common way of expressing self-related information, but some individuals identified themselves with their physical characteristics or evaluated how much they had changed physically throughout the years.
Directive function
The directive function was the least frequently utilized function (f = 425, N = 29), and the conversations of one mother-adolescent pair did not include any utterance related to the directive function. The sub-themes of the directive function were giving lessons, taking lessons, decreasing negative emotions, and increasing positive emotions. The first two sub-themes did not include emotional content; the former referred to directing the other conversational partner's behavior, while the latter referred to directing one's own behavior. One mother said, “I hope you go to college and get a good profession so we don't have to go through things like this with you.” Those utterances did not refer to regulating her son's emotions, nor were they related to the event that made the adolescent sad; they referred to general behaviors, so they were coded as giving lessons. In another example, the adolescent was angry at her mother and said, “You shouldn't promise what you can't do.” However, this utterance did not refer to regulating her anger but referred to directing her mother's behavior, and was coded as giving lessons. As an example of taking lessons, one adolescent attended an organization with students from diverse cultural backgrounds and stated, “My worldview has changed” and “My awareness has increased”. Utterances that confirmed the giving lessons sub-theme were also coded as taking lessons. For example, when the mother said, “Please keep your promises” and the adolescent responded, “I will,” the adolescent's response was coded as taking lessons.
Regarding the other two sub-themes, we observed that directing behavior was accompanied by emotional content, as participants recounted emotional events and focused on regulating their emotions. In this case, the utterances were coded as decreasing negative emotions or increasing positive emotions. In a conversation about a sad event, a grandfather's illness, both the mother and the adolescent focused on managing the adolescent's emotional distress. The following utterances were examples of decreasing negative emotions:
M: You need to stay calm. You lose your control.
A: Should I control myself?
M: Yes, you should. You have other responsibilities at that time.
A: I should be calmer.
M: Yes, you should. I told you that it was important for you to go to bed and get some rest.
In another example, the adolescent was angry because he did not want to visit his relatives. The mother was giving lessons about the event that caused the negative emotion, so she tried to regulate her son's anger. In the following example, all mother utterances were coded as decreasing negative emotions. However, the adolescent responded angrily to his mother's attempts; he did not try to regulate his anger and only wanted to emphasize his own perspective:
A: I don't want to go to my aunt on Sundays.
M: But they are our family. It is important to strengthen the relationships with relatives.
A: I love my relatives, but I also want to spend time with my friends.
M: You can meet with your friends at another time.
A: But you occupy all of my Sundays. When should I meet with my friends?
M: Sundays are the only available days to visit relatives. You will understand me when you become older and have your own children.
The sub-theme of decreasing negative emotions mainly occurred in sad and angry events. For the happy events, participants recognized the positive aspects of the event and emphasized the role of those aspects in improving their current mood or reflecting on the future. In the following example, which was also mentioned at the beginning, the mother bought a present for her daughter, and the utterances were coded as increasing positive emotions:
M: It was a beautiful day.
A: Yes, it was.
M: Mothers always think about their daughters. I hope you will save it for a lifetime.
A: I hope so.
Emotion regulation (ER)
As described above, we used thematic analysis to derive a coding scheme for self-, social, and directive functions within mother-adolescent conversations, since no established coding scheme existed. In contrast, researchers have developed and applied a coding scheme to identify emotion regulation themes in mother-child conversations, and thus we adopted this scheme in the current study (Wang, 2001; Wang and Fivush, 2005).
Utterances coded as emotion regulation included attributions, explanations, didactic talk, and emotional resolution themes. Attributions referred to stating or asking about how the child felt (e.g., M: Were you sad? C: Yes). Explanations emphasized the reasons for the emotional states (e.g., M: Why were you sad? C: Because my father got angry at me). Didactic talk concerned explaining social and moral rules, and what others expect from them (e.g., M: You should study more to be successful; C: Yes, I will be more careful about this). In addition to these general attempts to understand the child's emotional states or give general lessons, mothers might also try to resolve the negative emotions of the child. If there is an emotional resolution, the utterances could belong to one of the three sub-categories. When mothers were trying to comfort the child by stating that the problem had been solved and everything was now okay (e.g., “Despite all these things, you are a happy child”), those utterances were coded as reassurance. If the problem related to the negative emotion was caused by another person and the mother tried to fix the child's relationship with this person, those utterances were coded as re-establishment of relationship (e.g., “Your brother didn't want to upset you”). Finally, when mothers explained what would be more appropriate feeling or behavior in this emotional state (e.g., “Sometimes we're having a sad incident, but then it is forgotten”), those utterances were coded as moral lesson.
This coding scheme was originally used in mother-child reminiscing, in which mothers had the leading role in the conversations in order to regulate children's emotions. In the current study, mother-adolescent pairs had bidirectional conversational styles, and they talked about shared events; both mothers and adolescents talked about mothers' emotions, as well as adolescents'. Consistent with prior studies that have focused on the dyadic nature of mother-adolescent reminiscing styles, we applied the coding scheme to both family members' emotions (). Didactic talk was not coded as a separate theme in emotion regulation because of its resemblance to the directive function without the emotional content (i.e., the sub-theme of giving lessons).
While coding, it became apparent that utterances with the sub-themes noted above were difficult to categorize under the single main theme “emotion regulation,” because indeed this function was rarely mutually exclusive from the other three functions. For instance, didactic talk almost always referred to the directive function. If individuals made attributions or explained their own emotions, those utterances referred to the self-function, and if they did so for the other conversational partner's emotions, then they referred to the social function. Moreover, it was difficult to differentiate between problem-solving behaviors and emotion regulation behaviors due to reminiscing about emotionally charged events. In sum, emotion regulation did not occur as a separate function, but it occurred as a way of using memory—-or a theme—-that fell within the realm of each of the three main functions, consistent with some prior literature (). In the following sections, emotion regulation themes within each function are explained in detail.
Emotion regulation in social function (Social ER)
Some of the utterances in mother-adolescent conversations, which were coded as attributions, explanations, or re-establishment of relationship categories for the emotion regulation coding, were initially coded for the social function (f = 319, N = 29). Social ER constituted 26% of the social function, which means about a quarter of the social function utterances included ER themes. When mothers and adolescents ask questions about emotions (e.g. “Why were you angry?” and “Were you happier when we went on holiday?”) or recognize each other's emotions (e.g., “You were very sad” and “You became very happy when I said I was pregnant”) as in the sub-theme of attempts to nurture the relationship, those utterances were coded as Social ER, since they referred to attributions or explanations themes in the emotion regulation coding. Sometimes, mothers and adolescents expressed their own feelings in terms of their social relationship (e.g., “When you interfere with my decisions, I become angry at you”), and those utterances belonged to the sub-theme of sharing one's perspective in the social function. Since those utterances also referred to attributions or explanations categories, they were coded as Social ER.
While considering the re-establishment of relationship category, mothers and adolescents tried to resolve the negative emotion by focusing on other people or themselves. For instance, the mother was explaining the situation from the adolescent's sister's perspective and said, “You know, your sister is in adolescence. She sometimes gets angry easily.” The mother was trying to resolve the adolescent's negative emotions by focusing on others. Therefore, these utterances, which belonged to the sub-theme of relationships with others, were coded as Social ER. Mothers and adolescents also recognized their own fault in the situation and apologized to each other (i.e., the sub-theme of attempts to nurture the relationship), and if those utterances were related to the problem that caused the negative emotion, then they were coded as Social ER. For instance, the adolescent was sad because his mother slapped him, and the mother said, “I am sorry, I shouldn't have slapped you.” These utterances showed that the mother tried to resolve the negative emotion by re-establishing their relationship, which was an indicator of both social and emotional regulation aspects of the conversation.
Emotion regulation in self-function (Self-ER)
When participants expressed their emotions, they were coded for the sub-theme of expressing emotion in the self-function. Those utterances also referred to attributions or explanations categories in the emotion regulation coding. Therefore, all the utterances in the sub-theme of expressing emotion were also coded as Self-ER (f = 330, N = 25). Self-ER constituted 53% of the self-function, which means approximately half of the self-function utterances included ER themes. Since participants were talking about emotionally charged events, while they were referring to themselves, they were also referring to their emotions half of the time (e.g., “I became very happy when we bought a cat,” “I felt very sad,” “It was the last time that I was happy”).
Emotion regulation in directive function (directive ER)
All the utterances in the sub-themes of decreasing negative emotions and increasing positive emotions were also coded as Directive ER (f = 372, N = 28). Directive ER constituted 83% of the directive function, meaning that most of the directive function utterances included ER themes. This finding highlights the extensive overlap between the directive function and ER, particularly for emotionally charged events. Even the utterances that did not contain emotional aspect of the problem but instead contained problem solving strategies (i.e., giving lesson and taking lesson sub-themes for the directive function) might be considered as ER function because they were talking about emotionally charged events (e.g., When you lose a person's trust, you win it hard,” and “Please keep your promises). Similarly, didactic talk, which refers to general behavioral regulation strategies, was also considered as an aspect of emotion regulation coding for emotionally charged events (Wang and Fivush, 2005). The category of moral lesson and reassurance in the emotion regulation coding were also coded for decreasing negative emotions and increasing positive emotions sub-themes because when the participants tried to regulate their emotions, they also mentioned their problems or their behaviors. Therefore, there was no clear way of differentiating emotion regulation from the directive function.
In conclusion, the detailed examination of each utterance in mother-adolescent conversations about emotionally charged events allowed us to develop a coding scheme for the functions of autobiographical memory. While examining each utterance in terms of whether it had a function, which function it served, and whether it also served emotion regulation, sub-themes emerged, and they converged in the three functions identified in the literature. Therefore, the coding scheme consisted of self-, social, and directive functions, each of which also included emotion regulation themes; emotion regulation did not stand alone as a separate function. The descriptions and examples of the coding scheme for the three functions can be seen in Table 1.
Table 1
| Main theme | Categories | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social | Attempts to nurture the relationship | •Giving attention to each other •Recognizing each other's feelings and thoughts •Trying to improve the quality of the relationship | •You were very influenced by that event. •Were you scared when I was having an operation? |
| Sharing one's perspective | •Explaining the situation from one's own perspective to give information about the characteristics and requirements of the relationship | •It was too late to go. •You misinformed me about the meeting time, so you made me angry. | |
| Relationships with others | •Explaining the characteristics and requirements of the relationships with others | •Your father should have warned you differently. •We have never been close after that event. | |
| Self | Expressing emotions | •Explicit attributions to emotions | •I became very happy when we bought a cat. •It was the last time that I was happy.•It was the last time that I was happy. |
| Personal thoughts and interests | •Referring to emotional states with behavioral utterances •Thoughts about the event back then or current thoughts during conversations | •I was crying in my room. •I think it was ridiculous to be accused. | |
| Physical self | •Explicit attributions to physical characteristics | •I was very little. •I was beautiful. | |
| Directive | Taking lessons | •Taking a lesson for oneself from the event without focusing on the emotional content | •I got out of that political mentality. •I got out of that political mentality. •I realized certain things. |
| Giving lessons | •Giving a lesson to each other from the event without focusing on the emotional content | •When you lose a person's trust, you win it hard. •Please keep your promises. | |
| Decreasing negative emotions | •Giving a lesson to each other or for oneself while focusing on the emotional aspect of the event •Giving a lesson to each other or for oneself while focusing on the event that caused negative emotions | •You should keep calm in these situations. •I should be calmer. | |
| Increasing positive emotions | •Recognizing the positive aspects of the event to improve the current mood or to reflect on the future | •It was a beautiful day. •I hope you will remember this day as a happy memory. |
The coding scheme for the functions.
Quantitative analyses
After coding the data based on the three functions and assigning frequency scores, we ran exploratory analyses to investigate the differences between family members and among different types of emotions. We conducted three separate 2 X 3 Linear Mixed Model analyses (family member X emotion type) for self-, social, and directive functions, due to the multilevel nature of the data. Memories were nested within mother-adolescent dyads and three emotions. Family member and emotion type were analyzed as fixed effects. Descriptive statistics for the frequency of the functions can be seen in Table 2. Parameter estimates for three mixed-model analyses regarding self-, social, and directive functions can be seen in Table 3.
Table 2
| Emotion type | Family member | Function | N | Range | M | SD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sadness | Mother | Self-function | 18 | 0-12 | 2.90 | 3.50 |
| Social function | 28 | 0-20 | 8.57 | 5.62 | ||
| Directive function | 23 | 0-16 | 4.00 | 4.37 | ||
| Adolescent | Self-function | 27 | 0-22 | 4.63 | 4.49 | |
| Social function | 26 | 0-17 | 4.10 | 4.29 | ||
| Directive function | 9 | 0-6 | 0.73 | 1.51 | ||
| Anger | Mother | Self-function | 16 | 0-8 | 1.20 | 1.81 |
| Social function | 30 | 1-3 | 11.10 | 8.57 | ||
| Directive function | 24 | 0-35 | 4.57 | 6.78 | ||
| Adolescent | Self-function | 28 | 0-34 | 5.57 | 6.51 | |
| Social function | 29 | 0-22 | 7.43 | 5.61 | ||
| Directive function | 12 | 0-5 | 0.83 | 1.32 | ||
| Happiness | Mother | Self-function | 17 | 0-11 | 1.87 | 2.76 |
| Social function | 28 | 0-20 | 7.70 | 5.63 | ||
| Directive function | 19 | 0-28 | 3.00 | 5.44 | ||
| Adolescent | Self-function | 30 | 1-13 | 4.67 | 3.61 | |
| Social function | 25 | 0-7 | 2.20 | 2.12 | ||
| Directive function | 12 | 0-9 | 1.03 | 1.90 |
Descriptive statistics for the frequency of the functions.
Table 3
| Function | Effect | df1 | df2 | F | p |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Self-function | Intercept | 1 | 29 | 104.595 | < 0.001 |
| Family member | 1 | 29 | 21.384 | < 0.001 | |
| Emotion | 2 | 29 | 0.315 | 0.732 | |
| Family member X emotion | 2 | 29 | 1.646 | 0.210 | |
| Social function | Intercept | 1 | 29 | 89.139 | < 0.001 |
| Family member | 1 | 29 | 26.375 | < 0.001 | |
| Emotion | 2 | 29 | 8.622 | 0.001 | |
| Family member X emotion | 2 | 29 | 1.856 | 0.174 | |
| Directive function | Intercept | 1 | 29 | 27.045 | < 0.001 |
| Family member | 1 | 29 | 12.083 | 0.002 | |
| Emotion | 2 | 29 | 0.867 | 0.431 | |
| Family member X emotion | 2 | 29 | 2.639 | 0.089 |
The parameter estimates of the mixed model for the three functions.
For the self-function, there was a significant main effect of family member. There was a higher frequency of self-function reported by adolescents (M = 4.96, SE = 0.58) in comparison with their mothers (M = 1.99, SE = 0.32). For the social function, there were significant main effects of family member and emotion type. Social function was more frequently observed in mothers' utterances (M = 9.12, SE = 1.06) compared to adolescents' (M = 4.58, SE = 0.57). It was also more frequently observed in angry events (M = 9.27, SE = 1.22) compared to sad (M = 6.33, SE = 0.70) and happy events (M = 4.95, SE = 0.54). For the directive function, there was a main effect of family member. Mothers' utterances (M = 3.86, SE =0.87) included a greater amount of directive function than adolescents did (M = 0.87, SE = 0.18).
Discussion
In the current study, we investigated the functions of mother-adolescent memory conversations with a mixed-method design. First, we developed a coding scheme for the functions through qualitative analysis. We examined each utterance in detail and generated the themes that converged in three functions: self-, social, and directive. Because mother-adolescent conversations were based on emotional events, emotion regulation did not occur as a separate theme, and all three functions included some aspects of emotion regulation. Second, we examined differences in the frequency of the functions in terms of family member and emotion type through quantitative analyses, and found results consistent with adolescence as a key period in identity and life story development (e.g., ), unfolding and often supported in relationship with mothers.
Regarding the three memory functions during conversations, the social function showed the highest frequency compared to the others. Sharing autobiographical memories is a social way of remembering and provides a context for understanding the social function (; Wang, 2013). How people use their memories for social purposes is influenced by their own characteristics and those of their relationships (). We observed that mother-adolescent pairs focused both on the relationship between themselves and on their relationships with other people while reminiscing. Moreover, their conversations referred to the three uses of the social function: intimacy, teach/inform, and empathy (). In terms of intimacy and empathy, we observed that mothers and adolescents intended to understand each other better; they asked questions and acknowledged each other's thoughts and emotions. Regarding teach/inform, we observed a more instructive role, in which participants highlighted the appropriate vs inappropriate behaviors of a relationship. These utterances included an argumentative style, especially in conflict events, which corresponded to angry events in the current study. In a similar vein, arguments (i.e., being right about something) were considered as an aspect of the social function (). These three components of the social function were observed in both mother-adolescent dyads' relationships and their relationships with other people.
While the social function dominated the conversations, the self-function also emerged as a meaningful component of mother-adolescent reminiscing. The self-function fell between the other two functions in terms of frequency. When participants mentioned their self-related characteristics, such as their emotions, thoughts, or physical characteristics, those utterances were coded as reflecting the self-function. Similarly, self-esteem, identity, and self-understanding were themes reflecting self-function (Waters et al., 2014). The self-related information in the current study also consisted of participants' past, current, and future selves, and included creating a sense of self-continuity by creating connections among them. Consistent with the literature, using autobiographical memories for self-continuity purposes is a prominent part of the self-function (; ). Especially for the adolescents, in accordance with development of the life story (), participants mentioned their thoughts and emotions during the events under discussion while integrating them with their current way of thinking. They explained the situation from their own point of view, and these self-related utterances created a more in-depth understanding of themselves with a sense of continuous self.
Beyond social and self-related purposes, the conversations also served to direct behavior, though less frequently. The directive function showed the lowest frequency of mention. Even though the reminiscing task created a relatively naturalistic context, detecting the directive function in such conversations might still be challenging. More implicit measures are needed to fully capture how individuals use their memories to direct their behaviors (). Nevertheless, the directive function emerged as an important aspect of the conversations. Participants created a learning context from those memories. Both took lessons for themselves and gave lessons to each other. The sub-theme of giving lessons is especially emphasized by mothers due to their scaffolding role in their children's development. Research examining functions in mother-child reminiscing has mainly focused on mothers' roles of directing children's behavior (Wang, 2013). However, since mother-adolescent reminiscing has a more bidirectional nature, not only the mothers but also the adolescents emphasized lesson learning for each other and for themselves.
The lessons mentioned in the directive functions included both emotional and non-emotional content. Therefore, emotion regulation did not occur as a separate theme but was mostly embedded in the directive function. Decreasing negative emotions and increasing positive emotions were the related sub-themes. Theoretically, they can be evaluated as different from the directive function since they do not refer to directing behavior or solving problems, but emphasize emotional states (Wang, 2013). However, the data from mother-adolescent pairs showed that it is difficult to differentiate behaviors and problems from emotions. Some examples were not very clear in terms of whether participants focused on regulating their emotions or on solving the problem that caused the negative emotion. One reason might be that they were talking about emotionally charged events. Even though they did not explicitly state their emotions, they might have had a motivation to regulate them. In previous research, emotion regulation has been generally conceptualized as part of the directive function (; ). Similarly, while coding coping strategies during mother-child reminiscing about negative peer experiences, there were two themes: (1) active cognitive coping, which is more similar to emotion regulation skills, and (2) active behavioral coping, which is more similar to problem-solving strategies (Song and Wang, 2020). Overall, problem-solving and emotion regulation go hand in hand, and in the current study, most of the emotion regulation themes occurred within the directive function.
Another contributing factor may be the cultural context. As previously mentioned, suppression of negative emotions in the family environment tends to be emphasized in the Turkish cultural context (Sunar, 2002), and maternal suppression of emotions does not necessarily predict negative child outcomes (). In another study conducted with Turkish parents, one of the most frequently mentioned emotion regulation strategies was to solve the problem that caused the negative emotion (). Similarly, emotional suppression is common and may be considered an adaptive regulatory strategy in collectivistic cultures (). This pattern of emotional suppression might reflect the cultural tendency to discuss emotions indirectly while emphasizing behavioral and moral guidance, which results in the overlap between emotion regulation and the directive function. Still, individual differences beyond cultural ones should be further explored.
Complementing the qualitative findings, the quantitative analyses revealed some developmental patterns. The frequency of the social and directive functions was greater for mothers, while the self-function was more salient for adolescents. These findings are in line with research in which mothers played a scaffolding role during reminiscing; they provided empathy, taught the requirements of social relationships, guided their children's behaviors, and tried to resolve negative emotions (; Wang and Fivush, 2005). This scaffolding continues to be important for adolescent development (; ). In addition, the salience of self-function for the adolescents in our sample is consistent with unfolding identity development (; ). During adolescence, individuals integrate single memories into a meaningful life story, as an important developmental task (). Although the findings here are preliminary with a small sample size, we obtained similar findings in a subsequent quantitative replication, in which we applied the coding scheme developed here to analyses of a larger, independent sample of mother-adolescent memory conversations about emotionally-charged events (). Hence, the maternal scaffolding role and the development of the life story during adolescence appear to be robust features of mother-adolescent memory conversations.
Another quantitative finding suggested that the frequency of the social function was greater in angry events compared to sad and happy events. This was an unexpected finding because positive events are typically more likely to serve the social function (, ). However, in previous studies, individuals narrated their own memories, whereas the focus of the current study was on conversations. The event itself—as an angry event— may not improve the social bonds, but how we talk about it may create this opportunity. In a study conducted in Türkiye, mothers encouraged the expression of their children's sadness more than anger, and expressing anger may not be considered socially desirable in Turkish families (). However, in the current study, we specifically asked mother-adolescent dyads to talk about anger, which may have resulted in their finding socially appropriate ways of expressing it. Due to the bidirectional nature of the conversations, adolescents may also have contributed socially palatable elements to these discussions, and made anger a salient context for the social function.
Finally, the current study had some limitations. We focused on mother-adolescent conversations about emotionally charged events, and found that emotion regulation is embedded in the other three functions. Different conversational contexts may yield different results, and it is not clear whether this would generalize to all kinds of conversations. While the frequency-based coding scheme we developed sheds light on the relative prevalence of the three major functions, other approaches might better capture the adaptive value of the various functions within conversations. Furthermore, we developed the coding scheme with qualitative approaches, and future studies could incorporate this coding scheme along with other coding measures and scales about the functions. Finally, we observed mother-adolescent interactions with a cross-sectional design and a small sample size. Future studies could examine how mother-adolescent conversational styles change and mutually influence each other over time, using longitudinal designs.
The current study represents the first attempt to develop a comprehensive coding scheme for the functions of memory in ongoing conversations. We conducted in-depth qualitative analyses using thematic analysis methods and arrived at a coding scheme that distinguished among self-, social, and directive functions, consistent with theory and empirical evidence in prior literature. We also explored emotion regulation themes, and concluded that emotion regulation is embedded in the other three functions, especially in the directive function. The period of adolescence and the Turkish cultural context that were the focus of the current research have also been understudied, and thus we expanded the literature by investigating Turkish mother-adolescent dyads' memory conversations from a functional perspective.
Statements
Author’s note
This study is based on the first author's doctoral dissertation.
Data availability statement
The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.
Ethics statement
The studies involving humans were approved by Middle East Technical University - Human Subject Ethics Committee. The studies were conducted in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. Written informed consent for participation in this study was provided by the participants' legal guardians/next of kin.
Author contributions
NE-P: Methodology, Writing – review & editing, Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, Formal analysis. BS-A: Formal analysis, Writing – original draft, Conceptualization, Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Methodology. ML: Supervision, Formal analysis, Writing – review & editing, Methodology, Writing – original draft.
Funding
The author(s) declared that financial support was received for this work and/or its publication. This research was supported by a doctoral scholarship awarded by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBTİAK) under grant/program number 2211-E. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Conflict of interest
The author(s) declared that this work was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Generative AI statement
The author(s) declared that Generative AI was not used in the creation of this manuscript.
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Summary
Keywords
adolescence, autobiographical memory functions, emotion regulation, emotion talk, mixed methods study, mother-child memory conversation
Citation
Elibol-Pekaslan N, Sahin-Acar B and Leichtman MD (2026) Functions of mother-adolescent memory conversations: a mixed methods study in Türkiye. Front. Dev. Psychol. 4:1847758. doi: 10.3389/fdpys.2026.1847758
Received
04 April 2026
Revised
31 May 2026
Accepted
03 June 2026
Published
23 June 2026
Volume
4 - 2026
Edited by
Dorthe Kirkegaard Thomsen, Aarhus University, Denmark
Reviewed by
Mary Kate Koch, Gonzaga University, United States
Theodore Waters, New York University Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Updates
Copyright
© 2026 Elibol-Pekaslan, Sahin-Acar and Leichtman.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Nur Elibol-Pekaslan, nur.elibolpekaslan@aybu.edu.tr
Disclaimer
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