Hi,

There are several other methods of assessing adult attachment, although if you want a less time consuming method, you have to switch to self-report questionnaires. You can find a good summary here: http://internal.psychology.illinois.edu/~rcfraley/measures/measures.html . I have experience with ECR. It is a reliable measure both in its 36-item and the 12-item short form. It measures adult attachment via items concerning romantic relationships. I hope you find an adequate measure for your project.

Best wishes,

András

Hi Andras, thank you for your response, however, the ERC measures attachment styles ito romantic relationships. Does it correlate with attachments styles as measured using the AAI?

Literature reviews show little convergence between self-report measures and AAI. But ECR is also able to reveal clinically relevant, theoretically sound relations with other variables. There is a more up-to-date version of ECR, ECR-RS (relationship structures). It measures attachment through 9 items across 4 relationships (mother, father, romantic partner, best friend). It also allows you to compute a general / average attachment score in two dimensions (avoidance, anxiety). It is used by clinicians to do follow-ups with psychotherapy clients.

Dear Judit, Andras gave an excellent answer. There are two schools of measuring attachment with small convergence, each doing very well in different domains. I suggest that you follow the Handbook of attachment, in which the self-report is also represented, and maybe central researchers, such as the home-page of Phil Shaver, and the book that he wrote together with Mario Mikulincer. If you found "not enough variability" perhaps you could try different ways of analyzing your data (i.e. deviding into 4 groups?).

There are fascinating experimental validations of the ECR (I am stressing it, as I assume AAI enjoys better reputation). In one of our studies self report of attachment of mother and father was correlated with cognitive and social evaluation of their child by kindergarten teacher. And yes, Tania - not only romantic relationships. Good luck.

Dear Judit, I respect your refraining from torturing the data to make in confess (:

If I understand correctly - it did not help.

However, if you review hundreds of studies with the attachment questionnaires it is a common practice. The reason is not only historic, but also that it is a different concept of dimension vs. "personalities" in the way you interpret them. Finally, check the IARR.org site for the next conference in Melborne, and come (:

p.s. and the conference specifically on attachment in Pavia Italy 31.8.13

Dear Judith, I apologize if I misunderstood and more so if I have offended you-

it was not what I meant. Also, sorry if all this was not helpful, and did not answer your specific issue.Am sure other researchers and be of help. Good luck with your studies.