TY - JOUR
T1 - A Psychometric Study of the Adult Attachment Interview
T2 - Reliability and Discriminant Validity
AU - Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J.
AU - van IJzendoorn, Marinus H.
PY - 1993/1/1
Y1 - 1993/1/1
N2 - The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) stimulates Ss to retrieve and evaluate attachment-related autobiographical memories and has increasingly been used to predict the quality of parent-child interactions and infant-parent attachment relationships. Its reliability and discriminant validity, however, have not yet been examined. In this study, 83 mothers were interviewed twice, 2 months apart, by different interviewers so that the instrument's test-retest reliability and potential interviewer effects can be evaluated. To examine the AAI's discriminant validity, we administered tests for autobiographical memory, intelligence, and social desirability. The reliability of the AAI classifications was quite high over time (78% on the level of the 3 main categories; κ =.63) and across interviewers. The unresolved category was less stable. The AAI classifications turned out to be independent of non-attachment-related memory, verbal and performance intelligence, and social desirability.
AB - The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) stimulates Ss to retrieve and evaluate attachment-related autobiographical memories and has increasingly been used to predict the quality of parent-child interactions and infant-parent attachment relationships. Its reliability and discriminant validity, however, have not yet been examined. In this study, 83 mothers were interviewed twice, 2 months apart, by different interviewers so that the instrument's test-retest reliability and potential interviewer effects can be evaluated. To examine the AAI's discriminant validity, we administered tests for autobiographical memory, intelligence, and social desirability. The reliability of the AAI classifications was quite high over time (78% on the level of the 3 main categories; κ =.63) and across interviewers. The unresolved category was less stable. The AAI classifications turned out to be independent of non-attachment-related memory, verbal and performance intelligence, and social desirability.
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U2 - 10.1037/0012-1649.29.5.870
DO - 10.1037/0012-1649.29.5.870
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:21144481217
SN - 0012-1649
VL - 29
SP - 870
EP - 879
JO - Developmental Psychology
JF - Developmental Psychology
IS - 5
ER -