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Project

Does memory mediate the relationship between emotional complexity and well-being? A developmental perspective.

Emotion complexity (EC) is important for wellbeing but little is known about the development of these associations. One study found that EC decreases from childhood to adolescence and increases again in young adulthood. We aim to replicate and extend this work by documenting EC-mental health associations in childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. Whether or not developmental shifts in EC correspond to an uptick in mental health problems in adolescence will be tested. One pathway that might explain EC’s link to wellbeing is through enhancing memory accuracy for emotional experiences. Separate literatures show that how individuals feel specific emotions influences their memory accuracy and that individual differences in the specificity of memory for emotional situations relates to mental health. Thus, EC should relate to wellbeing by enhancing memory for emotional situations. We will test how the associations between EC and memory for emotional events differs across childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood, and whether memory mediates these links between EC and mental health. Findings will fill substantial gaps in understanding of the development of emotion-cognition associations.
Date:1 Oct 2019 →  30 Sep 2020
Keywords:Development, Emotion Complexity, Memory, Mental health, Well-being
Disciplines:Mathematical psychology