In search of security: The latent structure of the Adult Attachment Interview revisited

2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 589-606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine C. Haydon ◽  
Glenn I. Roisman ◽  
Keith B. Burt
Keyword(s):  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Adult Attachment Interview ◽  
States Of Mind ◽  
Behavioral Correlates ◽  
Relevant Evidence ◽  
Early Experiences ◽  
Item Level ◽  
State Of Mind ◽  
Components Analysis ◽  
Q Sort

AbstractBuilding on Roisman, Fraley, and Belsky, who produced evidence for two modestly correlated dimensions (i.e., dismissing and preoccupied states of mind) underlying individual differences in attachment as assessed by the Adult Attachment Interview using the Main and Goldwyn classification system, this report replicates and extends relevant evidence in a large sample of adults (N = 842) who completed the Adult Attachment Interview coded using Kobak's Adult Attachment Interview Q-Sort. Principal components analysis of item-level Q-Sort data yielded two state of mind (dismissing vs. free to evaluate and preoccupied vs. not) and two inferred experience (maternal and paternal) components that were associated with two domains of theoretical significance to attachment theory: interpersonal functioning in a romantic context and symptoms of psychopathology. Results revealed distinctive behavioral correlates of dismissing versus preoccupied states of mind and emphasize the differential predictive significance for developmental adaptation of attachment states of mind versus adults' recollections of their early experiences. Implications for adult attachment methodology and theory are discussed.

scholarly journals The latent structure of the adult attachment interview: Large sample evidence from the collaboration on attachment transmission synthesis

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
K. Lee Raby ◽  
Marije L. Verhage ◽  
R. M. Pasco Fearon ◽  
R. Chris Fraley ◽  
Glenn I. Roisman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
Common Factor ◽  
Adult Attachment Interview ◽  
Latent Structure ◽  
States Of Mind ◽  
Confirmatory Factor Analyses ◽  
State Of Mind ◽  
Taxometric Analyses

Abstract The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) is a widely used measure in developmental science that assesses adults’ current states of mind regarding early attachment-related experiences with their primary caregivers. The standard system for coding the AAI recommends classifying individuals categorically as having an autonomous, dismissing, preoccupied, or unresolved attachment state of mind. However, previous factor and taxometric analyses suggest that: (a) adults’ attachment states of mind are captured by two weakly correlated factors reflecting adults’ dismissing and preoccupied states of mind and (b) individual differences on these factors are continuously rather than categorically distributed. The current study revisited these suggestions about the latent structure of AAI scales by leveraging individual participant data from 40 studies (N = 3,218), with a particular focus on the controversial observation from prior factor analytic work that indicators of preoccupied states of mind and indicators of unresolved states of mind about loss and trauma loaded on a common factor. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that: (a) a 2-factor model with weakly correlated dismissing and preoccupied factors and (b) a 3-factor model that further distinguished unresolved from preoccupied states of mind were both compatible with the data. The preoccupied and unresolved factors in the 3-factor model were highly correlated. Taxometric analyses suggested that individual differences in dismissing, preoccupied, and unresolved states of mind were more consistent with a continuous than a categorical model. The importance of additional tests of predictive validity of the various models is emphasized.

Earned- and continuous-security in adult attachment: Relation to depressive symptomatology and parenting style

1994 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 359-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane L. Pearson ◽  
Deborah A. Cohn ◽  
Philip A. Cowan ◽  
Carolyn Pape Cowan
Keyword(s):  
Parenting Styles ◽  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Depressive Symptomatology ◽  
Adult Attachment Interview ◽  
Model Classification ◽  
Working Models ◽  
Working Model ◽  
Early Experiences ◽  
Earned Security ◽  
Early Relationships

AbstractThe secure working model classification of adult attachment, as derived from Main and Goldwyn's (in press) Adult Attachment Interview scoring system, was considered in terms of earned-security and continuous-security. Earned-security was a classification given to adults who described difficult, early relationships with parents, but who also had current secure working models as indicated by high coherency scores; continuous-security referred to a classification in which individuals described secure early attachment relationship with parents and current secure working models. Working models of attachment were classified as earned-secure, continuous-secure, or insecure in a sample of 40 parents of preschool children. Comparisons among the classifications were conducted on a measure of depressive symptoms and two sets of ratings of observed parenting styles. Adults with earned-secure classifications had comparable depressive symptomatology to insecures, with 30% of the insecures, 40% of the earned-secures, and only 10% of the continuous-secures having scores exceeding the clinical cut-off. The rate of depressive symptomatology in the earned-secure group suggests that reconstructions of past difficulties may remain emotional liabilities despite a current secure working model. With regard to parenting styles with their preschoolers, the behavior of earned-secure parents was comparable to that of the continuous-secures. This refinement in conceptualizing secure working models suggests ways for understanding variation in pathways to competent parenting as well as a possible perspective on how adults' adverse early experiences may continue to place them and their children at risk.

Preoccupied but not dismissing attachment states of mind are associated with nonsuicidal self-injury

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 379-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jodi Martin ◽  
Jean-François Bureau ◽  
Marie-France Lafontaine ◽  
Paula Cloutier ◽  
Celia Hsiao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primary Caregivers ◽  
Adult Attachment Interview ◽  
States Of Mind ◽  
Factor Analyses ◽  
Self Injury ◽  
Regulatory Strategy ◽  
Exploratory Factor Analyses ◽  
State Of Mind ◽  
Age And Sex ◽  
Nonsuicidal Self Injury

AbstractIn this investigation the factor structure of the Adult Attachment Interview was studied in a partially at-risk sample of 120 young adults. More specifically, 60 participants had engaged in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI; 53 females, M age = 20.38 years), and 60 were non-self-injuring controls matched by age and sex. Theoretically anticipated differential associations between preoccupied (but not dismissing) states of mind and NSSI were then examined. Exploratory factor analyses identified evidence for two weakly correlated state of mind dimensions (i.e., dismissing and preoccupied) consistently identified in factor analyses of normative-risk samples. As hypothesized, results further showed that preoccupied (but not dismissing) states of mind were associated with NSSI behavior. Findings support existing arguments suggesting that the regulatory strategy adults adopt when discussing attachment-related experiences with primary caregivers, particularly passive, angry, or unresolved discourse patterns, is uniquely correlated with NSSI.

scholarly journals Attachment states of mind among internationally adoptive and foster parents

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 365-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Lee Raby ◽  
Heather A. Yarger ◽  
Teresa Lind ◽  
R. Chris Fraley ◽  
Esther Leerkes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Foster Parents ◽  
Rating Scales ◽  
Adoptive Parents ◽  
Adult Attachment Interview ◽  
Low Risk ◽  
States Of Mind ◽  
Protective Services ◽  
State Of Mind ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Taxometric Analyses

AbstractThe first aim of the current study was to examine the latent structure of attachment states of mind as assessed by the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) among three groups of parents of children at risk for insecure attachments: parents who adopted internationally (N= 147), foster parents (N= 300), and parents living in poverty and involved with Child Protective Services (CPS;N= 284). Confirmatory factor analysis indicated the state of mind rating scales loaded on two factors reflecting adults’ preoccupied and dismissing states of mind. Taxometric analyses indicated the variation in adults’ preoccupied states of mind was more consistent with a dimensional than a categorical model, whereas results for dismissing states of mind were indeterminate. The second aim was to examine the degree to which the attachment states of mind of internationally adoptive and foster parents differ from those of poverty/CPS-referred parents and low-risk parents. After controlling for parental age, sex, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, (a) internationally adoptive parents had lower scores on the dismissing dimension than the sample of community parents described by Haltigan, Leerkes, Supple, and Calkins (2014); (b) foster parents did not differ from community parents on either the dismissing or the preoccupied AAI dimension; and (c) both internationally adoptive and foster parents had lower scores on the preoccupied dimension than poverty/CPS-referred parents. Analyses using the traditional AAI categories provided convergent evidence that (a) internationally adoptive parents were more likely to be classified as having an autonomous state of mind than low-risk North American mothers based on Bakermans-Kranenburg and van IJzendoorn's (2009) meta-analytic estimates, (b) the rates of autonomous states of mind did not differ between foster and low-risk parents, and (c) both internationally adoptive and foster parents were less likely to be classified as having a preoccupied state of mind than poverty/CPS-referred parents.

scholarly journals Attachment representations and autonomic regulation in maltreating and nonmaltreating mothers

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 1075-1087 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Reijman ◽  
Lenneke R. A. Alink ◽  
Laura H. C. G. Compier-De Block ◽  
Claudia D. Werner ◽  
Athanasios Maras ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Vagal Tone ◽  
Autonomic Regulation ◽  
Adult Attachment Interview ◽  
Potential Utility ◽  
Attachment Representations ◽  
Attachment Representation ◽  
State Of Mind

AbstractThis study assessed attachment representation and attachment-related autonomic regulation in a sample of 38 maltreating and 35 nonmaltreating mothers. Mothers’ state of mind regarding attachment was measured using the Adult Attachment Interview. They further watched an attachment-based comfort paradigm, during which we measured skin conductance and vagal tone. More maltreating mothers (42%) than nonmaltreating mothers (17%) had an unresolved/disoriented attachment classification. Attachment representation was related to physiology during the comfort paradigm: an unresolved state of mind and a nonautonomous classification were associated with a decrease in skin conductance during the comfort paradigm, specifically during the responsive caregiver scenario. However, physiology did not differ between maltreating and nonmaltreating mothers. The decrease in skin conductance of unresolved mothers during the comfort paradigm might be indicative of a deactivating response, which is congruent with the dissociative nature of the unresolved state of mind. The results point to the potential utility of interventions focused on attachment representations for maltreating mothers.

Qualitŕ della disorganizzazione nelle rappresentazioni mentali d'attaccamento delle madri: uno studio pilota nell'ambito del maltrattamento

2009 ◽  
pp. 39-50
Author(s):  
Lavinia Barone ◽  
Alessandra Frigerio
Keyword(s):  
Adult Attachment ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Adult Attachment Interview ◽  
Disorganized Attachment ◽  
Control Group ◽  
States Of Mind ◽  
Socio Economic Status ◽  
Coding Systems ◽  
Potential Risk Factors

- Objective: this study focuses on the investigation of disorganized attachment in a group of maltreating mothers in order to identify potential risk factors of abusive parenting. Method: A sample of 10 "maltreating" mothers and a control group matched by age and socio-economic status were recruited. Mothers' attachment mental representations were assessed using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). The AAIs were coded by two different coding systems (i.e. Main et al. and Lyons-Ruth et al. systems) in order to fully investigate the disorganization of maternal states of mind. Results: Preliminary data show a significant percentage of disorganized attachment according to the new Hostile-Helpless classification system. Specifically, the hostile subtype was more frequent than other indicators of disorganization, thus showing potential implications related to abusive parenting.Key words: Adult Attachment Interview, disorganization, maltreatment, parenting.Parole chiave: Adult Attachment Interview, disorganizzazione, maltrattamento, genitorialitŕ.

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