Toddlers whose mothers received special coaching in talking about memories grew into teenagers who experience better wellbeing, research shows.

The study found that 15-year-olds told more coherent stories about turning points in their lives if their mothers had been taught the new conversational techniques 14 years earlier.

These adolescents also reported fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety compared to adolescents in the study whose mothers had conversed with their toddlers as usual.

Published in the Journal of Personality, the research is a follow-up of a reminiscing intervention in which 115 mothers of toddlers were assigned to either a control group or given training in elaborative reminiscing for a year. Elaborative reminiscing involves open and responsive conversations with young children about everyday past events, such as feeding ducks at the park.

Project lead Professor Elaine Reese, of the Department of Psychology, says adolescents whose mothers had participated in the earlier coaching sessions narrated difficult events from their lives — such as parental divorce or cyber-bullying — with more insight into how the experience had shaped them as people.

The research, initially funded by the Marsden Fund of the Royal Society Te Aparangi, is the first to show long-term benefits of mother-child reminiscing for adolescents’ development.

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