title: Let's kōrero (talk): the practice and functions of reminiscing among mothers and children in Māori families.
abstract: Māori adults recall earlier memories than New Zealand European or Chinese adults, highlighting the importance of memory in Māori culture. In this study, Māori preschool children and their mothers (N = 41) reminisced about a diverse range of past events, including everyday events, the child's birth, cultural rituals and the child's misbehaviour. Mothers also reported how frequently they discussed past events with their children, as well as their level of affiliation with Māori culture. Mothers who reported higher levels of cultural affiliation also reported reminiscing more frequently about a diverse range of past events. Mothers reminisced in more elaborative ways about everyday events with their children compared to birth stories, cultural rituals and misbehaviours. Maternal reminiscing about cultural rituals and misbehaviours, however, along with maternal reminiscing about everyday events and birth stories, were significantly correlated with children's memory across conversations. These results underscore the continued importance of reminiscing about culturally relevant events in Māori culture, and the newfound importance for Māori families of reminiscing about everyday events.
authors.affiliation: a Psychology Department , University of Otago , Dunedin , New Zealand.
authors.forename: Elaine
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Reese
authors.forename: Tia
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Neha
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003469:Culture; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D009034:Mother-Child Relations / Q000523:psychology*; D013060:Speech
keywords: Culture; Functions; Parent–child; Reminiscing