ABSTRACT
Dr. Robyn Fivush has significantly contributed to the literature on autobiographical memory narratives. The current study draws on Dr. Fivush’s work and examines age and gender differences in (1) the proportion of emotional utterances (positive or negative) in adolescents’ COVID-19 autobiographical memory narratives during their post-pandemic recollection, and (2) the proportion of emotional utterances (positive or negative) for emotionally and non-emotionally valenced interview prompts (positive, negative, neutral). Participants aged 12–17 (n = 90, 69% girls) were interviewed about their COVID-19 experiences. Results demonstrated that, with age, adolescents produced a significantly greater proportion of emotional utterances. A significantly greater proportion of the emotional utterances provided by girls were negatively-valenced than positively valenced. Older adolescents produced a greater proportion of emotional utterances to negative interview prompts compared to neutral prompts. These findings have implications for understanding adolescents’ post-pandemic well-being and extend Dr. Fivush’s research on adolescents’ autobiographical memory narratives.