Dimensionality and Psychometric Properties of a New Child Attachment Assessment Instrument
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5944/ap.15.1.22166Keywords:
telling stories, children, assessment, working internal model, attachmentAbstract
The Children Attachment Interview (EAN) is a new instrument based on story telling reports. The main purpose of this study is to analyze the structure and basic psychometric properties of the EAN through exploratory factor analyses based on a sample of 115 Spanish children aged 8 to 13 years (63 % boys). Another two matched samples from the risk social population and clinical population were compared with the main sample in order to obtain criterial validity. Findings reveal a multi-internal structure composed of four factors that refer to children´s reactions (positive, trustful, negative and mistrustful) and five factors that refer to child-attachment figure interactions (empathic, trustful, positive, rivalry and pro-arousal). Scales demonstrated adequate internal consistency. The comparison of scales between general and criterial groups, and correlations with related constructs indicate good construct validity.Downloads
References
Achenbach, T. M. & Edelbrock, C. (1993). Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist and Revised Child Behavior Profile. Burlington, VT.: Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont.
Ainsworth, M., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of Attachment: A Psychological Study of the Strange Situation. Oxford: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and Loss: Vol. 2: Separation. New York: Basic Books.
Cattell, R. B. (1966). Handbook of Multivariate experimental psychology. Chicago, IL: Rand McNally.
Diener, M. & Kim, D. Y. (2004). Maternal and child Predictors of Children’s social competence. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 25, 3-24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2003.11.006
Finzi, R. Cohen, O., Sapir, Y., & Weizman, A. (2000). Attachment Styles in maltreated children: a comparative study. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 31, 113-128. https://doi.org/ 10.1023/a:1001944509409
Fraley, R. C. & Spieker, S. J. (2003). Are Infant Attachment Patterns Continuously or Categorically Distributed? A Taxometric Analysis of Strange Situation Behavior. Developmental Psychology, 39, 387-404. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.39.3.387
Gracia, E., Lila, M., & Musitu, G. (2005). Rechazo parental y ajuste psicológico y social de los hijos [Parental Rejection and Children's Psychological and Social Adjustment]. Salud Mental, 28, 73-81.
Granot, D. & Mayseless, O. (2001). Attachment Security and Adjustment to School in Middle Childhood. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 25, 530-541. https://doi.org/10.1080/01650250042000366
IBM Corp. (2011). IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 19.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.
Kaiser, H. F. (1961). A note on Guttman´s Lower Bound for the Number of Common Factors. British Journal of Statistical Psychology, 14, 1-2. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8317.1961.tb00061.x
Kerns, K., Tomich, P., Aspelmeier, K., & Contreras, J. (2000). Attachment-Based Assessment of Parent-child Relationxhips in Middle Childhood. Developmental Psychology, 36, 614-626. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.36.5.614
Moore, T. E. & Pepler, D. J. (2006). Wounding words: Maternal verbal aggression and children’s adjustment. Journal of Family Violence, 21, 89-93. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-005-9007-x
Nowacki, K. & Schoelmerich, A. (2010). Growing up in Foster Families or Institutions: Attachment Representation and Psychological Adjustment of Young Adults. Attachment & Human Development, 12, 551-566. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616734.2010.504547
Picard, O., Allsopp, G., & Campbell, L. (2012). Foundation Programme. 250 SJTs (Situational Judgement Test Questions) for foundation year entry. London, UK: ISC Medical.
Rohner, R. P. (2005). Parental acceptance-rejection questionnaire (PARQ): Test Manual. In R. P. Rohner & A. Khaleque (Eds.), Handbook for the study of parental acceptance and rejection (4th ed., pp. 43-106). Storrs, CT: Rohner Research Publications.
Sierra, P., Carrasco, M. A., Moya, J. J., & Del Valle, C. (2009, October). The children attachment interview by evocative stories supported with pictures. Exploratory study of a new method to assess attachment in children. International Attachment Network. IAN Iberoamericana, Madrid, Spain.
Sierra, P., Carrasco, M. A., Moya, J. J., & Del Valle, C. (2011). Entrevista de Apego para Niños (EAN). Un estudio exploratorio de un nuevo instrumento de evaluación del apego en niños de 3 a 7 años [Child Attachment Interview (EAN): Exploratory study of a New Method to Assess Attachment in Children from 3 to 7 years]. Acción Psicológica, 8(2), 39-53. https://doi.org/10.5944/ap.8.2.189
Target, M., Fonagy, P., & Schmueli-Goetz, Y. (2003). Attachment Representations in School-Age Children: The Development of the Child Attachment Interview (CAI). Journal of Child Psychotherapy 29, 171-186. https://doi.org/10.1080/0075417031000138433
Van Ijzendoorn, M. H. & Kroonenberg, P. M. (1988). Cross-cultural Patterns of Attachment: A Meta-Analyses of Strange Situation. Child Development, 59, 147-156. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1988.tb03202.x
