Parents sharing memories about everyday events with toddlers in open, enriched and responsive conversations has been shown to help children with their mental health and wellbeing into early adulthood.
University of Otago researchers found 21-year-olds told more coherent stories about turning points in their lives if their mothers used the conversational technique two decades earlier.
These adults also reported fewer symptoms of depression and greater self-esteem compared with adults in the study whose mothers interacted with them as usual.
It was the first study to show the enduring influence of having open, enriched and responsive conversations with children about shared experiences.
The study was a long-term follow-up of a reminiscing intervention in which 115 mothers of toddlers were either assigned to a control group or taught to use elaborative reminiscing for a year.
"Emerging adults face a volley of challenges as they leave home and enter university or the workforce.
"We wanted to understand how well tamariki cope with new challenges as they enter adulthood and find ways to ease the psychological stress that typically accompanies these transitions."
Project leader and psychology professor Elaine Reese said the "soft-touch intervention" in early childhood proved to have enduring benefits for psychological wellbeing and mental health.
"This study is the first of its kind and is informing new interventions at home and in schools with parents and teachers of young children."
The researchers would continue the study to investigate the potential mechanisms driving the observed mental health and wellbeing benefits when the subjects were further into adulthood, she said.
