Attachment Measurement and Assessment: The Strange Situation, Q-Sort, and AAI

Learning Outcomes for Attachment Measurement

• After participating in this session, students should be able to perform the following tasks:     - Provide a detailed description of the various attachment styles that are measured using the Strange Situation Paradigm.     - Develop a critical assessment regarding the validity and reliability of the Strange Situation Paradigm.     - Critically evaluate the validity and reliability of the Attachment Q-sort measurement tool.     - Critically evaluate the validity and reliability of the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI).

Internal Working Models

• Definition and Origin:     - Internal working models are the internalized models children develop regarding their relationships with their Primary Caregiver (PC).     - These models are constructed gradually throughout the periods of infancy and childhood.     - The nature of these models is directly related to the observed quality of the attachment to the Primary Caregiver.

• Characteristics and Stability:     - These models function as stable representations within the individual.     - Despite their stability, they are not fixed and are subject to change over time.

• Functional Role:     - Working models serve as guides for future behavior.     - They influence how children permit themselves to be treated by others.     - They dictate the dynamics of close relationships formed with others later in life.

Definitions of Validity and Reliability in Attachment Research

• Validity: This metric determines whether a specific test actually measures the concept it is designed to measure. It is categorized into three types:     - Concurrent Validity: This measures how well a specific measure correlates with an already established measure of the identical concept.     - Predictive Validity: This measures the effectiveness of a measure in predicting performance on concepts, abilities, or future outcomes that the test was intended to predict.     - Discriminant Validity: This measures how well a measure correlates with concepts that it is explicitly not supposed to be related to (i.e., proving the test is unique and not measuring a different, unrelated trait).

• Reliability: This metric determines if a test produces consistent and stable results across different conditions. It is categorized into two types:     - Test-retest Reliability: Determines if the test produces consistent results when administered to the same subjects at different intervals in time.     - Inter-rater Reliability: Determines whether different testers or observers produce consistent results when using the same measure.

The Strange Situation Paradigm (Ainsworth, 1960s)

• Overview and Target Demographic:     - Developed by Mary Ainsworth in the 1960s.     - Target subjects: Infants around the age of $12$ months.     - Methodology: A structured procedure involving a specific pattern of separations from and reunions with the 'mother' or primary caregiver.

• Primary Aim:     - To diagnose and categorize differing patterns of attachment based on the specific reactions of the child during the procedure.

• The Eight Episodes of the Strange Situation Procedure:     1. Introduction: The Primary Caregiver (PC) and the infant are introduced to the experimental room.     2. Exploration: The PC and infant are alone in the room. The PC is instructed not to participate while the infant explores the environment.     3. Stranger Entry: A stranger enters the room, converses with the parent, and then approaches the infant. Following this, the PC leaves the room inconspicuously.     4. First Separation Episode: The infant is left with the stranger. The stranger's behavior is specifically geared toward the behavior/reactions of the infant.     5. First Reunion Episode: The PC returns, greets the infant, and provides comfort. The stranger then leaves the room.     6. Second Separation Episode: The infant is left entirely alone as the PC leaves the room.     7. Continuation of Second Separation: The stranger re-enters the room and again gears their behavior to the infant's reactions.     8. Second Reunion Episode: The PC re-enters the room and greets the infant, picking them up. The stranger leaves the room inconspicuously.

• Categories of Observed Behavior:     - Proximity and contact-seeking behavior.     - Contact maintaining behavior.     - Resistant behavior.     - Avoidant behavior.

Attachment Style Classifications via the Strange Situation

• Secure Attachment:     - The infant displays a clear desire for either proximity and contact with the PC or interaction with the PC, occurring most prominently during reunion episodes.     - The infant actively seeks to maintain contact.     - There is little to no tendency to resist contact with the PC.     - There is little to no tendency to avoid the PC during reunion episodes.     - The infant may show distress during separation, but the desire for the PC is clear.     - Prevalence: Approximately $65\%$ of infants.

• Insecure Avoidant:     - Characterized by conspicuous avoidance of proximity to or interaction with the PC during reunion episodes.     - The infant shows little or no tendency to seek, maintain proximity, or contact the PC, even when reunited.     - There is little or no tendency toward active resistance to contact or interaction.     - The infant tends to treat the stranger in a similar manner to how they treat the PC.     - Prevalence: Approximately $20\%$ of infants.

• Insecure Resistant:     - The infant shows moderate-to-strong seeking of proximity and contact.     - Paradoxically, the infant simultaneously displays conspicuous contact-resisting and interaction-resisting behavior, giving an overall impression of ambivalence toward the PC.     - The infant shows little or no tendency to ignore the PC during reunions.     - They do not move away or avert their gaze; instead, they show a mixture of anger and relief upon reunion.     - Prevalence: Approximately $15\%$ of infants.

• Insecure Disorganised (Waters and Valenzuela, 1999):     - Characterized by clear avoidance (or resistance) in the first reunion followed by a shift to clear resistance (or avoidance) in the second reunion.     - Represents a mixture of avoidant and resistant behaviors across the pre-separation, separation, and reunion episodes.

Critical Assessment of the Strange Situation Paradigm

• Validity Findings:     - Concurrent Validity: Research by Ainsworth et al. (1979) suggests it is related to home-based measures of attachment, though this link is less robust for insecure profiles.     - Predictive Validity: Sroufe (2005) demonstrated strong continuity between Strange Situation measures and later measures of sociability.     - Discriminant Validity: The measure appears to be relatively unaffected by the infant's temperament, suggesting it measures attachment specifically rather than personality.

• Reliability Findings:     - Short-term Test-retest: Deemed inappropriate because the novelty of the situation is necessary for the measure to be valid.     - Long-term Test-retest Reliability: Main, Kaplan, and Cassidy (1985) tested children at $18$ months and again at $6$ years.         - Results: $100\%$ of those classified as secure at $18$ months remained secure at age $6$.         - Results: $75\%$ of those classified as avoidant at $18$ months remained avoidant at age $6$.     - Inter-rater Reliability: Ainsworth and Bell (1970) reported a high correlation between different raters with a coefficient of $r = 0.94$.

The Attachment Q-sort

• Methodology:     - Used with children aged between $12$ and $48$ months.     - Consists of $90$ statements describing child attachment behavior.     - Example Statement 1: If the mother laughs at or approves of something the child has done, the child repeats the action again and again.     - Example Statement 2: The child cries as a specific way of getting the mother to do what he or she wants.

• Sorting Process:     - An observer sorts these statements into $9$ distinct piles.     - Piles range from "low" (meaning the behavior is not typical of the child) to "high" (the behavior is highly typical).     - This process classifies children as either "secure" or "not secure."

• Validity (Ijzendoorn et al., 2004):     - Concurrent Validity: Shows a moderate correlation with the Strange Situation Paradigm (SSP) at $0.31$.     - Predictive Validity: There is a strong relationship between Q-sort results and maternal sensitivity.     - Discriminant Validity: There is a weak relationship with temperament, supporting its use as an attachment measure.

• Reliability (Ijzendoorn et al., 2000):     - Inter-rater Reliability: High, reported at $0.88$.     - Test-retest Reliability: High, reported at $0.81$.

The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI)

• Overview:     - A semi-structured interview consisting of a series of questions designed to assess an adult's "internal working model."

• Content Themes:     - Focuses on childhood attachments.     - Focuses on the meaning the adult places on those childhood experiences.

• Scoring Criteria:     - Description of childhood experiences.     - Specific language used during the interview.     - The coherence and believability of the responses provided.

• AAI Classification Categories:     - Secure/Autonomous: The individual provides a balanced view of early relationships and views attachment experiences as important and valuable.     - Insecure/Dismissive: The individual tends to dismiss their early experiences; their account usually lacks coherence.     - Insecure/Preoccupied: The individual appears confused about the past and expresses current anger or passivity toward their parents.     - Insecure Disorganised: Related to attachment-related trauma or abuse that has not been reconciled or resolved.

• Validity Assessments:     - Concurrent Validity (Waters et al., 2000): Relates well to SSP scores; $72\%$ of participants received the same secure versus insecure classification as they did in infancy.     - Predictive Validity (Waters et al., 2000): Demonstrates a relationship between the parent's classification and the classification of their offspring.     - Discriminant Validity (Crowell & Treboux, 1995): Shows a low relationship with both intelligence and memory.

• Reliability Assessments:     - Inter-rater Reliability (Ijzendoorn et al., 1992): Reported as moderate, at approximately $0.55$.     - Test-retest Reliability (Sagi et al., 1994): Reported as high, at approximately $0.79$.

Summary of Attachment Measures

• The session covered three primary measures of attachment:     1. Strange Situation Paradigm (SSP).     2. Attachment Q-Sort.     3. Adult Attachment Interview (AAI).

• Critical consideration must be applied to the reliability and validity of each individual measure when interpreting research data.

Recommended Resources

• Media:     - BBC Radio 4 programme on Mary Ainsworth: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00f8n6q

• Books and Chapters:     - Main, E. (2011). Emotional Development and Attachment Relationships (Chapter 6). In Slater, A., and Bremner, G. (Eds). An Introduction to Developmental Psychology, BPS Blackwell, p185-215.     - Bretherton, I. (1992). The origins of attachment theory: John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth. Developmental Psychology, 28(5), 759.     - Easterbrooks et al. (2012). Social and Emotional Development in Infancy (Chapter 4). In Weiner, I. B., et al. (Eds). Handbook of Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Wiley & Sons, p91-120.

• Longitudinal Studies:     - Waters, E., Merrick, S., Treboux, D., Crowell, J., & Albersheim, L. (2000). Attachment security in infancy and early adulthood: A twenty-year longitudinal study. Child Development, 71(3), 684-689.