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Associations Between Attachment Narratives and Self-Report Measures of Attachment in Middle Childhood: Extending Evidence for the Validity of the Child Attachment Interview

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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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pomona CARE Lab, Department of Psychology, Pomona College, 647 N. College Way, Claremont, CA, 91711, USA

    Jessica L. Borelli & Jennifer Somers

  2. Department of Psychology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Jessica L. West

  3. Department of Organizational and Behavioral Sciences, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA, USA

    John K. Coffey

  4. Comprehensive Assessment and Intervention Program, Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Andres De Los Reyes

  5. Anna Freud Centre, University College London, London, UK

    Yael Shmueli-Goetz

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  1. Jessica L. Borelli
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  2. Jennifer Somers
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  3. Jessica L. West
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  4. John K. Coffey
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  6. Yael Shmueli-Goetz
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Correspondence to Jessica L. Borelli.

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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

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