Synonyms

Attachment measures; Attachment patterns; Attachment representations; Attachment styles; Mental models

Definition

The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) is a method of classifying a current state of mind with respect to attachment in adults.

Description

The AAI is a semi-structured interview, and it is used to categorize adults’ state of mind with respect to attachments. These classifications are secure-autonomous (F), dismissing (D), preoccupied (E), and disoriented/ disorganized (U/d). The interview consists of twenty questions focusing on early relationships with parents and the family environment, and takes between 45 and 90 min to administer [4, 6].

The AAI was developed as narrative assessment of an adult’s state of mind with respect to attachment figures and reflects patterns of organization of experiences. Some sample questions ask the participant to describe their relationship with one of their parents as young as they can remember, what they did when they would get upset, and how they think their relationship with their parents has affected their adult life. Additionally, participants are encouraged to talk about the feelings of sadness, anger, and loss. This way the interview prompts the description of subjective memories forming an autobiographical narrative [8].

One of the most interesting things about this measure is that in addition to taking the content of the answers into account, the way in which the participant present their story becomes a relevant piece of information. When classifying the interview, the tone of voice, the pauses, the degree to which the participants are self-reflective, and the degree to which they have achieved a coherent interpretation of their lives is taken into account. Additionally, involvement in the narrative, lack of recall, idealization of parents, length, cohesiveness, and coherence of the arguments are all indicative of state of mind in relationship to attachment [8].

The interview assesses the adult’s general orientation and mental model in respect to other attachment figures and intimate relationships throughout life, without giving a specific categorization to the relationship between the participant and a particular parent or person. The classifications take place after extensive analysis of the transcript of the interview giving importance to content and form of the discourse. Grice’s [5] four maxims of discourse are guidelines for the coding, and violation in quality (statements supported by evidence), quantity (length and completeness of thought), relation (relevance), and manner (clarity) are recorded. Additionally, the participant’s parents or caregivers are scored for the extent to which the rater believes they were loving, rejecting, role-reversing, involved when present, or pressuring. The interview does not claim to be an exact account of the past, but a reflection of the adult’s present working models [8].

This measure has been found to be predictive of the quality of attachment between adults and their children. The measure does not correlate with features of adult personality, suggesting that it is actually measuring aspects of the adult life that are highly dependent on experiences with caregivers in the early home environment [2]. Research has also shown that the attachment interview classifications are not related to social adjustment suggesting that the AAI assesses a unique dimension of adults’ life that is not better defined as adjustment. Classification in the AAI does not correlate with measures of social desirability, and it appears that subjects are not able to predict what a good AAI answer is. This way, adult’s working models seem to be responsible for the biases in the subject’s answers [2]. The AAI has shown to be stable across assessments for 4 years, which indicates that it is measuring a construct that is robust, and persists across time [8]. Similarly, the AAI has shown to have good test-retest reliability and inter-rater reliability [1].

AAI Classifications

Adult’s Secure/Autonomous State of Mind with Respect to Attachment

The narratives typical of this interview are coherent and consistent, and give ample examples and details to support their description of their parents and relationships. These memories do not always convey ideal parenting and positive feelings, but they express a balanced understanding of the past, fluidity of narrative, and the ability to reflect on early experiences. These adults have secure mental models, can recognize the impact of early relations, and are free to live the present without being impaired by past experiences or worries for the future [8].

Adults Dismissing State of Mind

These interviews, in general, show an overall lack of emotional connections during childhood. This discourse usually lacks details and examples, and the adults in this classification generally insist that they cannot recall specific experiences. The participants fail to support their general ideas about early experiences with evidence, and their responses are generally short. The internal working models of these adults are dismissive, because these adults have developed from a young age adaptive strategies based on the perception of an unreliable world. As a result, they have developed a sense of agency and independence, but a lack of feelings of connection, attunement, and emotional communication [8].

Adult Preoccupied State of Mind

These interviews are categorized by a state of mind that has not solved issues of the past. The past affects the adult’s life in the present and prevents him or her from living the present in full. Past fears are expressed in relationships of the present and in worries about the future. These adults have not resolved the question of whether the attachment figure would be available to them. They feel a powerful need for closeness and interrelations, and at the same time, fear of losing these intimate relationships. Relationships in the present are experienced as inconsistent and unreliable and as sources of ambivalent feelings. This discourse is categorized by lack of boundaries between past and present experiences, as the past still has an impact of the present state of the subject, not allowing him or her freedom to experience the present [8].

Adult Unresolved Disorganized State of Mind

These interviews commonly have the underlining theme of lack of resolution of trauma or loss. This discourse is generally categorized by lack of coherence and organization, inability to regulate emotional discussion, disruptive behaviors, shifts in states of mind, and a lack of adaptive strategies. The narrative reflects incomplete processing of past events, usually, as a result of traumatic experiences. These adults typically become confused or disoriented when discussing negative events with parents. In these cases, the mind is impaired by traumatic events from accessing memories and processing these memories in coherent ways. This state of mind is thought to be a result of repeated interactions which a caregiver that was frightening and could not sooth and help regulate the child’s emotions. This categorization is often but not always found among adults whose parents were abusive or suffered from a mental illness [8].

Earned Secure Classification

Researchers had encountered a group of adults that were generally classified as secure even in the face of their descriptions of negative parental care experiences. These adults have the ability to present their story in coherent and congruent ways, and to be emotionally involved as they describe negative memories. In general, these adults are thought to have experience repair of early relationships by finding a secure base in a new relationship such as a caregiver, spouse, teacher, or therapists. They have been able to interpret their life stories in ways that make them tolerable and coherent, achieving resolved states of mind and resilience. This allows them to live the present free from unresolved states related to the past. In general, earned secure adults have rewarding intimate relationships, nevertheless, research points at higher levels of depression in this group compared to the secure autonomous group [7].

Relevance to Childhood Development

The use of the AAI has resulted in a body of knowledge related to the importance of adults’ representations of attachment for child development. There is an important association between the classifications in the AAI and the quality of parenting an adult can offer. Research suggests that the way in which a mother recalls her own childhood experiences has a strong association to the quality of her relationship with her children. There seems to exist a transmission of attachment patterns through generations, as the caregivers interaction patterns are internalized in the child and affect his or her behavior as an adult. Interviews of autonomous mothers describe a mother who is free from unresolved experiences and can respond to her children’s attachment needs. Dismissing interviews present a mother who is reluctant to admit attachment needs, as her needs have often been rejected, and shows rejection and insensitivity to her infant’s needs. Similarly, preoccupied interviews reflect a mother who is still dealing with unresolved concerns about her attachment figures and her need for a secure base. Such mothers are likely to show inconsistent and confused responses to their infants, and still feel the need to be nurtured [8].

Research has shown that the AAI can predict the quality of attachment between the mother and child in the strange situation in 75–80% of the cases, when categorizing into secure and insecure attachments. Additionally, autonomous classification predicts secure attachment, dismissing predicts avoidant, and in many cases, preoccupied predicts ambivalent attachments. Similarly, unresolved-disorganized states predict disorganized attachments in the strange situation. The predictive power of the AAI resides not in the quality of early experiences but in the organization of mental representations of attachment and relationship issues. These mental representations reproduce themselves as the internal working models that infants develop about their caregivers and about themselves [3].

The AAI can enable researchers to learn about the processes that facilitate change in the adult’s classifications. This can have an effect on the care that children experience, it could help develop clinical services that improve the quality of the parent-child relationships, and could help interrupt the generational transmission of insecure attachments [3].