A short-term longitudinal study of the relations among depression, stressful life events, and autobiographical memory

A number of researchers have proposed that over time, repeated negative experiences can lead to the development of an "overgeneral" style of autobiographical remembering for regulating affect (e.g., the developmental hypothesis; Williams, 1995). Such a style is also thought to predispose individuals to depression. To test these hypotheses in the present study, depressive symptoms, stressful life events, and autobiographical memory performance were measured at two time points in order to observe how these measures related to one another over time. Depressive symptoms, stressful life events, and autobiographical memory performance were measured in female college undergraduates (n = 123) at both the beginning and end of their first year in college. By obtaining these measures at two time points, this study was able to address the following questions: (a) Does exposure to violence or self-reported symptoms of depression at Time 1 predict autobiographical memory performance at Time 2? (b) What are the concurrent relationships between depressive symptoms, exposure to violence, and autobiographical memory performance at Time 1 and Time 2? (c) Does autobiographical memory performance at Time 1 predict depressive symptoms at Time 2? and (d) Is lack of memory specificity related to broader measures of coping strategies (e.g., avoidant coping)? Results indicated that both concurrent exposure to stressful events and past negative experiences were related to memory performance, providing some support for the developmental hypothesis, and also highlighting the importance of attention to current conditions.