title: Attachment-related differences in perceptions of an initial peer interaction emerge over time: evidence of reconstructive memory processes in adolescents.
abstract: This study examined whether attachment, assessed using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI; George, Kaplan, & Main, 1996) was linked to how adolescents reconstructed their memory for an initial interaction with an unfamiliar peer. Adolescents (N = 189, 62% female) completed a 10-min laboratory task with a student whom they did not know. Immediately following this task, adolescents rated their perceptions of the interaction. Adolescents completed the same perception measure 2 weeks later. Although adolescents classified as secure and insecure on the AAI did not differ in how they perceived unfamiliar peers initially, attachment-related differences emerged over time. Insecure adolescents remembered the interactions as less positive and more negative and also reported being treated with greater hostility than they had initially reported 2 weeks earlier. In contrast, secure adolescents' memories for the negative aspects of the interaction and for hostile treatment remained stable, although, like insecure adolescents, they remembered the conflicts as being less positive than initially reported.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Oswego.
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Dykas
authors.affiliation: Department of Educational Psychology, Counseling, and Special Education, Pennsylvania State University.
authors.forename: Susan S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Woodhouse
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Maryland.
authors.forename: Katherine B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Ehrlich
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Maryland.
authors.forename: Jude
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cassidy
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D009769:Object Attachment; D010379:Peer Group; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors