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Oral vs. Written Narrative Memories and Well-Being in Late Adolescence

Amy R. Rikoon

Abstract
Researchers have been investigating possible psychological functions connected to personal memories that are presented in a narrative form. This study examines whether the structure of these narrative memories relate to psychological functioning. In addition, it tries to determine the best method of eliciting these narrative memories, whether oral or written. Thirty five upper level undergraduates (18 females and 17 males) completed Personal Well-Being and Satisfaction with Life likert scales. A few weeks later, participants provided four personal memories: a childhood memory, a high point, a low point, and a turning point. Half of the participants wrote their memories down and half related their memories orally. We hypothesized that oral memories would be longer, more specific, and more coherent than written memories. We also hypothesized that these oral memories, which would be higher in specificity and coherence, would correlate with higher levels of well-being and life satisfaction than written memories. We found that oral memories were longer than written memories but there were no differences in the degree of specificity and coherence between them. We also found some moderate negative correlations between specificity, coherence, and Well-Being scales, which was surprising given positive correlations in previous research.

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