While browsing the news feed from my alma mater, Emory University, I happened upon a blog post about recent research from their Dept. of Psychology.
The news release describes research demonstrating that youth who know stories about their relatives show higher levels of emotional well-being. The study was conducted with 66 14-16 year olds who completed the “Do You Know” scale, a 20-item yes/no survey in which kids were asked example questions of how their parents met, or where they grew up and went to school. Higher DYK scale scores were related to more internal locus of control, higher self-esteem, higher reported family functioning, higher reported family traditions, lower child anxiety and lower internalizing and externalizing behaviors.
“Family stories provide a sense of identity through time, and help children understand who they are in the world,”
The full research article is here.
Of course there’s the usual caveat that more research needs to be done, but how cool is that? 🙂