title: Psychometric properties of the written version of the autobiographical memory test in a japanese community sample.
abstract: The autobiographical memory test (AMT) is a widely used measure to assess the specificity of autobiographical memories. Reduced Autobiographical Memory Specificity (AMS) or increased overgeneralization of memories is considered as a cognitive hallmark of depression. Therefore, reduced AMS is the subject of much psychopathological research, and is a promising target for psychological interventions. Although considerable evidence has been gathered on the clinical relevance of reduced AMS over the past decades, studies on AMS have been mainly conducted in Western populations, and few have been conducted in Asian populations. This could be because of the unknown psychometric properties of the AMT given cultural and language differences. Therefore, the present study examined the psychometric properties of the AMT in a Japanese community sample (N=1240). Our data replicated that (a) the AMT has a uni-factorial structure; (b) AMS has a small but statistically significant negative correlation with depressive symptoms; (c) AMS shows a significant declining trend as a function of age, which influences the magnitude of the association between AMS and depressive symptoms in older adults. These findings suggest that the AMT has robust psychometric properties across different languages and cultural backgrounds.
authors.affiliation: Center for the Psychology of Learning and Experimental Psychopathology, University of Leuven, Tiensestraat 102, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address: keisuke.takano@kuleuven.be.
authors.forename: Keisuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takano
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nishiguchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, Kansai University, 3-3-35, Yamate-cho, Suita-shi, Osaka 564-8680, Japan.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moriya
authors.affiliation: Center for the Psychology of Learning and Experimental Psychopathology, University of Leuven, Tiensestraat 102, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Filip
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Raes
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000592:standards*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Age; Autobiographical memory; Depression; Memory specificity; Rumination