Abstract
The assessment of attachment security in infancy and adulthood is well-studied, but middle childhood has been relatively neglected in the literature. The Child Attachment Interview (CAI) represents a promising assessment of attachment in middle childhood; recent evidence supports its reliability and validity in restricted samples. We assessed the construct validity of the CAI among a diverse sample of 104 8–12 year-old children (M age = 9.80 years; 50 boys; 49 % family income <$40,000; 38 % Latino/a). We evaluated associations among CAI variables and self-report measures of attachment (convergent validity). Further, we evaluated whether CAI variables uniquely relate to theoretically-relevant constructs (internalizing symptoms) above and beyond self-reported attachment (incremental validity) and a theoretically-distinct construct, child temperament (discriminant validity). Our findings support the CAI’s validity, and have important implications for assessing and understanding attachment processes in middle childhood, as well as their development across the lifespan.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ainsworth, M. D., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Armsden, G., & Greenberg, M. (1987). The inventory of parent and peer attachment: Individual differences and their relationship to psychological well-being in adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 16, 427–454. doi:10.1007/BF02202939.
Belsky, J., & Rovine, M. (1987). Temperament and attachment security in the strange situation: An empirical rapprochement. Child Development, 58, 787–795.
Bohlin, G., Hagekull, B., & Rydell, A. M. (2000). Attachment and social functioning: A longitudinal study from infancy to middle childhood. Social Development, 9, 24–39.
Borelli, J. L., Crowley, M. J., David, D. H., Sbarra, D. A., Anderson, G. M., & Mayes, L. C. (2010). Attachment and emotion in school-aged children. Emotion, 10(4), 475–485. doi:10.1037/a0018490.
Borelli, J., David, D., Crowley, M., Snavely, J., & Mayes, L. (2013). Dismissing children’s perceptions of their emotional experience and parental care: Preliminary evidence of positive bias. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 44, 70–88. doi:10.1007/s10578-012-0310-5.
Borelli, J. L., West, J. L., Weekes, N. Y., & Crowley, M. J. (2014). Dismissing child attachment and discordance for subjective and neuroendocrine responses to vulnerability. Developmental Psychobiology, 56, 584–591. doi:10.1002/dev.21107.
Bosmans, G., & Kerns, K. A. (2015). Attachment in middle childhood: Progress and prospects. New directions for child and adolescent development, 148, 1–14.
Bowlby, J. (1980). Attachment and loss, vol. 3: Loss, sadness and depression. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Brenning, K., Soenens, B., Braet, C., & Bosmans, G. (2011). An adaptation of the experiences in close relationships scale-revised for use with children and adolescents. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 28(8), 1048–1072. doi:10.1177/0265407511402418.
Brenning, K., Van Petegem, S., Vanhalst, J., & Soenens, B. (2014). The psychometric qualities of a short version of the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale-Revised Child version. Personality and Individual Differences, 68, 118–123.
Brocki, K.C., & Bohlin, G. (2004). Executive functions in children aged 6 to 13: a dimensional and developmental study. Developmental Neuropsychology, 26(2), 571–593.
Brumariu, L., & Kerns, K. (2010). Parent–child attachment and internalizing symptoms in childhood and adolescence: A review of empirical findings and future directions. Development and Psychopathology, 22, 177–203. doi:10.1017/S0954579409990344.
Cassidy, J. (1994). Emotion regulation: Influences of attachment relationships. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59, 228–249. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5834.1994.tb01287.x
Diener, M., Isabella, R., Behunin, M., & Wong, M. (2008). Attachment to mothers and fathers during middle childhood: Associations with child gender, grade, and competence. Social Development, 17(1), 84–101. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9507.2007.00416.x.
Dwyer, K. M. (2005). The meaning and measurement of attachment in middle and late childhood. Human Development, 48, 155–182. doi:10.1159/000085519.
Ellis, L. K., & Rothbart, M. K. (2001). Revision of the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Minneapolis, MN.
Fearon, R. P., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., van Ijzendoorn, M. H., Lapsley, A. M., & Roisman, G. I. (2010). The significance of insecure attachment and disorganization in the development of children’s externalizing behavior: A meta-analytic study. Child Development, 81(2), 435–456.
Fonagy, P., Steele, H., & Steele, M. (1991). Maternal representations of attachment during pregnancy predict the organization of infant–mother attachment at 1 year of age. Child Development, 62, 891–905.
Fraley, R., & Spieker, S. (2003). Are infant attachment patterns continuously or categorically distributed? A taxometric analysis of strange situation behavior. Developmental Psychology, 39, 387–404.
George, C., Kaplan, N., & Main, M. (1985). Adult Attachment Interview protocol. Berkeley: University of California.
Granot, D., & Mayseless, O. (2001). Attachment security and adjustment to school in middle childhood. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 25(6), 530–541.
Hesse, E. (2008). The Adult Attachment Interview: Protocol, method of analysis, and empirical studies. In J. Cassidy & P. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (2nd ed., pp. 552–598). New York: Guilford Press.
Jacobvitz, D., Curran, Melissa, & Moller, N. (2002). Measurement of adult attachment: The place of self-report and interview methodologies. Attachment & Human Development, 4(2), 207–215.
Kagan, J. (2011). Bringing up baby: Are we too attached? Psychotherapy Networker, 35, 50–51.
Kerns, K. A. (2008). Attachment in middle childhood. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research and clinical applications (pp. 366–382). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Kerns, K. A., Aspelmeier, J. E., Gentzler, A. L., & Grabill, C. M. (2001). Parent–child attachment and monitoring in middle childhood. Journal of Family Psychology, 15(1), 69–81. doi:10.1037/0893-3200.15.1.69.
Kerns, K. A., Klepac, L., & Cole, A. (1996). Peer relationships and preadolescents’ perceptions of security in the child mother relationship. Developmental Psychology, 32, 457–466.
Kobak, R. R., & Sceery, A. (1988). Attachment in late adolescence: Working models, affect regulation, and representations of self and others. Child Development, 59(1), 135–146. doi:10.2307/1130395.
Kovacs, M. (1992). The Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI) manual. New York: Multi Health Systems.
Lieberman, M., Doyle, A., & Markiewicz, D. (1999). Developmental patterns in security of attachment to mother and father in late childhood and early adolescence: Associations with peer relations. Child Development, 70(1), 202–213. (PMID: 10191523).
Madigan, S., Atkinson, L., Laurin, K., & Benoit, D. (2012). Attachment and internalizing behavior in early childhood: A meta-analysis. Developmental Psychology, 49, 672–689. doi:10.1037/a0028793.
March, J. S., Parker, J. D. A., Sullivan, K., Stallings, P., & Conners, C. K. (1997). The Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC): Factor structure, reliability, and validity. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 36(4), 554–565. doi:10.1097/00004583-199704000-00019.
Muris, P., Mayer, B., & Meesters, C. (2000). Self-reported attachment style, anxiety, and depression in children. Social Behavior and Personality, 28, 157–162.
Muris, P., & Meesters, C. (2009). Reactive and regulative temperament in youths: Psychometric evaluation of the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire-revised. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 31, 7–19. doi:10.1007/s10862-008-9089-x.
Parker, G., Tupling, H., & Brown, L. (1979). A parental bonding instrument. Psychology and Psychotherapy, 52(1), 1–10. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8341.1979.tb02487.x.
Psouni, E., & Apetroaia, A. (2014). Measuring scripted attachment-related knowledge in middle childhood: The secure base script test. Attachment & Human Development, 16(1), 22–41.
Raby, K. L., Cicchetti, D., Carlson, E. A., Cutuli, J. J., Englund, M. M., & Egeland, B. (2012). Genetic and caregiving-based contributions to infant attachment unique associations with distress reactivity and attachment security. Psychological Science, 23(9), 1016–1023. doi:10.1177/0956797612438265.
Roisman, G., Fraley, R., & Belsky, J. (2007). A taxometric study of the Adult Attachment Interview. Developmental Psychology, 43(3), 675–686.
Romano, B., & Nelson, R. (1988). Discriminant and concurrent validity of measures of children’s depression. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 17(3), 255–259. doi:10.1207/s15374424jccp1703_10.
Scott, S., Briskman, J., Woolgar, M., Humayun, S., & O’Connor, T. (2011). Attachment in adolescence: Overlap with parenting and unique prediction of behavioural adjustment. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 52(10), 1052–1062. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02453.x.
Shmueli-Goetz, Y. (2014). The Child Attachment Interview (CAI). In S. Farnfield & P. Holmes (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of attachment: Assessment (pp. 119–132). Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.
Shmueli-Goetz, Y., Target, M., Datta, A., & Fonagy, P. (2004). Child Attachment Interview (CAI) coding and classification manual, version V. London: The Sub-Department of Clinical Health Psychology, University College London.
Shmueli-Goetz, Y., Target, M., Fonagy, P., & Datta, A. (2008). The Child Attachment Interview: A psychometric study of reliability and discriminant validity. Developmental Psychology, 44(4), 939–956. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.44.4.939.
Slough, N., & Greenberg, M. (1990). Five-year-old representation from patients: Responses from the perspective of self and other. In I. Bretherton & M. Watson (Eds.), New directions for child development (pp. 67–84). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Sroufe, L. A. (1985). Attachment classification from the perspective of infant–caregiver relationships and infant temperament. Child Development, 56(1), 1–14.
Sroufe, L. A., & Siegel, D. (2011). The verdict is in: The case for attachment theory. Psychotherapy Networker, 35(34–39), 52–53.
Steele, H. (2015). Commentary—Attachment in middle childhood: Looking back, forward, and within. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 148, 99–104.
Target, M., Fonagy, F., & Shmueli-Goetz, Y. (2003). Attachment representation in school-age children: The development of the Child Attachment Interview (CAI). Journal of Child Psychotherapy, 29, 171–186. doi:10.1080/0075417031000138433.
van IJzendoorn, M. H., & Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J. (1997). Intergenerational transmission of attachment: A move to the contextual level. In L. Atkinson & K. J. Zucker (Eds.), Attachment and psychopathology. New York: Guilford Press.
van Ryzin, M. J., Carlson, E. A., & Sroufe, L. A. (2011). Attachment discontinuity in a high-risk sample. Attachment & Human Development, 13(4), 381–401. doi:10.1080/14616734.2011.584403.
Vaughn, B. E., Bost, K. K., & van IJzendoorn, M. H. (2008). Attachment and temperament: Additive and interactive influences on behavior, affect, and cognition during infancy and childhood. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (2nd ed., pp. 192–216). New York: Guilford Press.
Venta, A., Shmueli-Goetz, Y., & Sharp, C. (2014). Assessing attachment in adolescence: A psychometric study of the Child Attachment Interview. Psychological Assessment, 26(1), 238–255. doi:10.1037/a0034712.
Ward, M. J., & Carlson, E. A. (1995). Associations among adult attachment representations, maternal sensitivity, and infant–mother attachment in a sample of adolescent mothers. Child Development, 66, 69–79. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1995.tb00856.x.
Waters, T. E. A., Bosmans, G., Vandevivere, E., Dujardin, A., & Waters, H. S. (2015). Secure base representations in middle childhood across two Western cultures: Associations with parental attachment representations and maternal reports of behavior problems. Developmental Psychology, 51(8), 1013–1025.
Zachrisson, H., Røysamb, E., Oppedal, B., & Hauser, S. (2011). Factor structure of the Child Attachment Interview. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 8(6), 744–759. doi:10.1080/17405629.2011.631293.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Borelli, J.L., Somers, J., West, J.L. et al. Associations Between Attachment Narratives and Self-Report Measures of Attachment in Middle Childhood: Extending Evidence for the Validity of the Child Attachment Interview. J Child Fam Stud 25, 1235–1246 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-015-0310-8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-015-0310-8