Relationship-Defining Memory in the Cultural Context: The Relation to Psychological Well-Being

Abstract

This study examined relationship-defining memories in the cultural context and how phenomenological characteristics of those memories were related to psychological well-being. A total of 105 Asian and 108 European American college students (Mage = 20.16 years; 64% women) each recalled a positive and a negative event significant for their relationships with parents and peers, respectively. Participants rated difficulty, affect, and subjective distance in retrieving the memories and reported psychological well-being. Independent of culture, less recall difficulty and closer subjective distance for positive parent memories were both correlated with better psychological well-being. As for negative parent memory, culture moderated the relationship between affect and psychological well-being: More fading affect was correlated with higher well-being only for Asians but not for European Americans. The phenomenology of peer memory was not significantly associated with psychological well-being. We discuss the phenomenological characteristics of relationship-defining memories in relation to psychological well-being in the cultural context.