The purpose of this study is to complete development of the Adult Attachment questionnaire, version 3.0 (AAQ3.0) by determining: (1) scoring ranges for attachment subtype classifications, (2) construct validity (with convergent and discriminant properties), (3) test-retest reliability over 3 months, and (4) factor structure of scales. This multi-item questionnaire was recently developed to categorize adults' states of mind with respect to attachment into classifications corresponding to those of the adult attachment interview (AAI): secure (autonomous), and insecure (dismissing, preoccupied, and unresolved). Parents' states of mind with respect to attachment are important because they predict (1) offsprings' attachment classifications which, in turn, predict later socio-emotional adaptation; (2) quality of caregiving and interactions with infants; (3) clinical problems in both adults and their offsprings. Three hundred caregivers of various ethnic/racial and disadvantaged backgrounds (150 in Toronto and 150 in New Orleans) will be recruited. Subjects are expected to be mostly 18-23 years old with less than grade 12 education. Subjects with such demographic characteristics are more often classified as insecure with AAI and such a sample in necessary to avoid a skew of distribution toward security (a problem in previous studies). Subjects will be compensated for participation in either Protocol 1 or protocol 2, each including 1 visit where subjects are interviewed with AAI and 1 visit where subjects complete AAQ 3.0 and other questionnaires and tests. In protocol 1, AAQ 3.0 is completed 1 week before AAI and in Protocol 2, AAQ 3.0 is completed 1 week after AAI. Each visit, scheduled 1 week apart, should take 1-1/2 hours to complete. Fifty subjects in each site (25 in each Protocol) will be randomly selected to complete AAQ 3.0 again, 3 months later. The proposed research is important because AAI (only other """"""""measure"""""""" of adults' states of mind with respect to attachment), is time consuming, cumbersome, and expensive to collect and score. A more brief, economical instrument designed to assess adults' states of mind with respect to attachment could promote a wider variety and greater number of research and function as a screen to pre-select subjects with specific AAI classifications when needed. This, in turn, may lead to greater understanding of parent-child relationships and an ability to screen potential parent-infant dyads at risk for insecure attachment and associated risk for clinical problems.
