Stability and change in mother-child reminiscing following intervention: Pandemic and reminiscing and emotion training influences.

In 30 seconds

This randomized controlled trial followed mothers and children to examine whether Reminiscing and Emotion Training (RET), child maltreatment history, and the COVID-19 pandemic were associated with maternal elaboration and sensitive guidance during reminiscing. Five years after intervention, 166 families completed an assessment when children were aged 8–12 years. Piecewise growth models across five waves found that mothers assigned to RET remained higher in elaboration and sensitive guidance than mothers receiving case management, while the case-management group remained lower than the nonmaltreatment comparison group. Reminiscing trajectories were stable from T2 to T5, and pandemic onset had no significant effect.

Key findings

• At five-year follow-up, RET mothers remained higher in elaboration and sensitive guidance than mothers in the case-management condition.
• Mothers in the case-management group remained lower in elaboration and sensitive guidance than the nonmaltreatment comparison group.
• All three groups showed stable reminiscing trajectories from T2 to T5 after intervention-related change between T1 and T2.
• Pandemic onset did not significantly affect maternal reminiscing at T5 or its change from T2 to T5.

Why it matters

The findings suggest that improvements in how mothers discuss past events with children can persist across developmental periods after an intervention. Such conversations involve both elaboration and emotionally sensitive guidance, making their sustained change relevant to understanding parent-child interaction over time. The absence of a detected pandemic effect also provides context for interpreting the follow-up results collected across the pandemic’s onset.

What to keep in mind

The follow-up included 166 of the original 248 families, so results reflect a subset of the initial trial participants.