CYP Now - Agreement between prospective and retrospective measures of childhood victimization: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Researchers set out to investigate the accuracy of adult memories by comparing concurrent reports of child maltreatment and other negative life events to adults’ recollections of these circumstances.

Findings suggest that adult recollections are no better than chance estimates for understanding the true prevalence of ACEs. - Picture: Adobe Stock/Paolese

Authors: JR Baldwin, A Reuben, J Newbury and A Danese

Published by: JAMA Psychiatry, 2019

It stands to reason that adults would accurately recall traumatic circumstances occurring in their childhoods.

However, findings from psychological studies consistently observe that adult memories are in fact incredibly faulty, even when they involve events as recent as the previous day.

This is particularly true when it comes to highly emotive events where it is not uncommon for memories to either diminish or exaggerate the significance and accuracy of important details.

The original ACE study authors in fact identified memory inaccuracy as a potential shortcoming of their study’s design, although they assumed that this limitation would systematically underestimate the prevalence of childhood ACEs.

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