Tâche d’évaluation de la mémoire autobiographique (TEMA) adaptée à l’enfant

Abstract

IntroductionResearch on depression in children (Vrielynck, Deplus & Philippot, 2007) has documented that an overgeneral memory in autobiographical recall constitutes a vulnerability factor for affective disorders. Until now, no valid and reliable instrument in French was available to measure this variable in school-age children. ObjectiveThe objective of the study was to develop an instrument for the evaluation of the generality of the autobiographical memory recall in French speaking school-age children (7–13years). This instrument is based on the task generally used with adults, the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT; Williams & Broadbent, 1986). MethodIn the first study, a corpus of cue words for the Tâche d’Evaluation de la Mémoire Autobiographique (TEMA) adapted for children was selected. Forty French words were judged by 221 children between 7 and 13 years on features which could impact on the specificity and emotional valence of the memories recalled (familiarity and comprehension of the word, visual imagineability, emotional assessment). In the second study, this tool was proposed to a sample of 149 children between 7 and 13 years. Results and conclusionThe between-judges reliability was comparable to the adult version of the test. The lack of stability of measured variables after 8 to 12 months is discussed in relationship with age-related developments in autobiographical memory. At last, norms are provided with respect to the emotional valence of the recalled memory and to age.