Date of Award

1993

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Department Not Listed

First Advisor

Chaney, Reece

Abstract

The present study was designed to investigate the manifest content of early recollections of resilient and non-resilient individuals.The purpose of the study was to determine if adults who have undergone extreme childhood trauma,who were considered at-risk,and developed into successful independent adults(resilient),have significantly different manifest content in their ERs as compared to unsuccessful adults(nonresilient)who have not overcome many of the at-risk obstacles they encountered as children.More specifically,the purpose of the study was to determine if lifestyle reflected in the manifest content of memories recalled from childhood could serve to differentiate between adults who were resilient and those who were non-resilient on the 42 variables of the Manaster-Perryman Manifest Content Early Recollections Scoring Manual(Manaster & Perryman,1974).A total of 80 subjects participated in this study(N=80).The participants comprised two groups,resilient and non-resilient.The resilient group was composed of 16 males and 24 females(n=40).The non-resilient group consisted of 14 males and 26 females (n=40).A total of 30 males and 50 females participated in the study.Each participant was instructed to complete a questionnaire that listed specific life experiences as a child and as an adult that were used to operationally define the two groups.The participants who met the operational definition of resilient or non-resilient were the instructed to provide three written early recollections.Significant differences between the two groups were found on ten of the Manaster-Perryman Manifest Content Early Recollection Scoring Manual variables.The resilient group mentioned the mother character,father character,visual concern with detail,outside in the participant's neighborhood setting,and had more neutral effect in their early recollections.The nonresilient group mentioned the character variable of groups,the mastery theme,the mutuality theme,the motor concern with detail,and had a greater number of themes in their early recollections.Several conclusions were drawn from this study.One major conclusion of this study was that Early Recollections were a useful tool in differentiating resilient and non-resilient groups.Implications for practice and future research were also discussed.

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