Validity and reliability in diverse samples of a questionnaire to assess adolescent attachment patterns

Attachment, as originally defined by John Bowlby, refers to the unique complementary bond between an infant and adult primary caregiver. The attachment bond has been characterized both as enduring patterns and as dimensional characteristics. Later researchers and clinicians expanded the definition of attachment to include reciprocal relationships between adults and the often indeterminate relationships of adolescence. Sustained research has demonstrated the relevance of adolescent attachment to temperament and social skills; to negative outcomes such as juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, suicidal ideation, psychiatric disorders, internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors; as well as to intervention techniques such as multidimensional family therapy. Nonetheless, there remains a need for a brief assessment instrument with demonstrated validity and reliability for adolescents of diverse socioeconomic, ethnic and cultural circumstances. The Adolescent Attachment Pattern Questionnaire (AAPQ) is a 20-item self-report instrument that assesses four attachment patterns, secure, dismissing, enmeshed and disorganized. The AAPQ has demonstrated strong psychometric properties, including construct, convergent and discriminant validity and internal reliability, in three diverse samples: a normative school sample (n=343), psychiatric patients (n=187) and incarcerated adolescents (n=894). Convergent validity was confirmed in relationship to the “gold standard” Adult Attachment Interview and the Parental Bonding Instrument. Internal reliability of the scales varied from .70 to .93 in the various samples. Psychometric properties were also strong in sub-samples, determined by sex and race/ethnicity of the incarcerated adolescents sample. The AAPQ should prove useful with diverse client populations in clinical settings as an efficient assessment of an important adolescent characteristic.