The first methods for assessing cognitive models of attachment in adulthood have only emerged in the past 3-4 years. Main & Goldwyn's (1984; in press) Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) measure is particularly promising in that several researchers report 75-80% correspondence between patterns of infant attachment at one-year and mother's AAI classification. Parents of securely attached infants are secure in their conceptualizations of relationships with their own parents. Parents of anxiously attached infants tend to dismiss the importance of early relationships to their own parents, or to be preoccupied with angry and inconsistent conceptualizations of relationships to their parents. The goal of this research is to determine whether the AAI is tapping attachment specific variance, that it is stable or shows reasonable degrees of stability and patterns of change over transitions such as marriage and parenthood, and that it has good discriminant validity vis a vis available measures of social adjustment and cognitive/coping styles. This application proposes a longitudinal study of 150 couples from pre- marriage through the third year of marriage. We will also assess steady dating couples and other age matched individuals in order to clarify the interpretation of any changes in AAI classifications in the married and parenting couples. During the course of the project, approximately 50% of the couples will have children. Assessment will include 1) Main & Goldwyn's AAI, 2) a parallel Adult Job Interview (for establishing discriminant validity), 3) interview and self-report measures of social adjustment, 4) measures of coping styles, 5) attachment related personality constructs, 6) marital satisfaction and marital violence, 7) a parenting stress inventory and the Ainsworth Strange Situation in families that have children during the course of the study. The goals of the research are to evaluate the attachment relevance, discriminant validity, and stability of the AAI, and to evaluate the role that adult attachment models play as mediators of personality, life events, and role that adult attachment models play as mediators of personality, life events, and marital influences on infant-parent attachment. We will also evaluate the relationship between adult attachment models and marital characteristics, marital discord, and marital aggression, focussing especially on the role that AAI classifications may play as moderators of established relationships between traits like aggression and spouse abuse.
NIH ExPorter
NIH ExPorter