Abstract
The Adolescent Attachment Questionnaire (AAQ), a brief questionnaire to assess attachment characteristics in adolescents, was developed and validated in a large normative sample (n = 691) and a sample of 133 adolescents in psychiatric treatment. The AAQ is a self-report questionnaire consisting of 3 scales of 3 statements each, with Likert-type responses from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The Availability scale assesses the adolescent's confidence in the availability and responsiveness of the attachment figure. TheGoal-Corrected Partnershipscale assesses the extent to which the adolescent considers and is empathetic to the needs and feelings of the attachment figure. The Angry Distress scale taps the amount of anger in the adolescent–parent relationship. All scales demonstrate satisfactory internal reliability and agreement between scores for adolescents (n = 91) from the normative sample who completed the AAQ twice. Adolescents in the clinical sample also completed the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI); the AAQ demonstrated high convergent validity with the AAI.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Adam K., Sheldon-Keller A., and West, M. (1996). Attachment organization and history of suicidal behavior in clinical adolescents. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 64: 264–272.
Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1985). Attachments across the life span. Bull. NY. Acad. Med. 61: 792–812.
Ainsworth, M., and Eichberg, C. (1991). Effects on infant-mother attachment of mothers unresolved loss of an attachment figure, or other traumatic experience. In Parkes, C. M., Stevenson-Hinde, J., and Marris, P. (eds.), Attachment Across the Life Cycle. Routledge, London and New York.
Ainsworth, M., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., and Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of Attachment: A Psychological Study of the Strange Situation. Erlbaum Press, Hillsdale, NJ.
Armsden, G. C., and Greenberg, M. T. (1987). The inventory of parent and peer attachment: Individual differences and their relationship to psychological well-being in adolescence. J. Youth Adolesc. 16: 427–54.
Baumrind, D. (1993). The average expectable environment is not good enough: A response to Scarr. Child Develop. 64: 1299–1317.
Benoit, D., and Parker, K. C. H. (1994). Stability and transmission of attachment across three generations. Child Develop. 65: 1444–1456.
Bland, J. M., and Altman, B. G. (1986). Statistical methods for assessing agreement between two methods of clinical measurement. Lancet 1: 307–310.
Bowlby, J. (1969/82). Attachment and Loss. Vol 1. Attachment. Hogarth Press, London; Basic Books, New York.
Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and Loss. Vol. 2. Separation. Basic Books, New York.
Bowlby, J. (1980). Attachment and Loss. Vol. 3. Loss, Sadness and Depression. Basic Books, New York.
Bukermans-Kranenburg, M. J., and van Ijzendoorn, M. H. (1993). A psychometric study of the adult attachment interview: Reliability and discriminant validity. Develop. Psychol. 29: 870–880.
Crowell, J. A., and Treboux, D. (1995). A review of adult attachment measures: Implications for theory and research. Social Develop. 4: 294–327.
Fonagy, P., Steele, H., and Steele, M. (1991). Maternal representations of attachment during pregnancy predict organization of infant-mother attachment at one year of age. Child Develop. 62: 891–905.
George, C., Kaplan, N., and Main, M. (1984–1996). Attachment Interview for Adults. Unpublished manuscript, University of California, Berkeley.
Grossman, K., Fremma-Bombik, E., Rudolph, J., and Grossman, K. E. (1988). Maternal attachment representations as related to patterns of infant mother attachment and maternal care during the first year. In Hinde, R. A., and Stevenson-Hinde, J. (eds.), Relationships within Families: Mutual influences. Clarendon, Oxford.
Hansburg, H. G. (1972). Adolescent Separation Anxiety: A Method for the Study of Adolescent Separation Problems. C. C. Thomas, Springfield, IL.
Hinde, R. (1982). Attachment: some conceptual and biological issues, In Parkes, M., and Stevenson-Hinde, J. (eds.), The Place of Attachment in Human Behavior. Basic Books, New York.
Jackson, D. N. (1971). A sequential system for personality scale development. Curr. Topics Clin. Commun. Psychiat. 2: 61–96.
Kenny, M. E. (1987). The extent and function of parental attachment among first year college students. J. Youth Adolesc. 16: 17–29.
Kobak, R. R., and Sceery, A. (1988). The transition to college: Working models of attachment, affect regulation, and perceptions of self and others. Child Develop. 59: 135–146.
Kobak, R., Sudler, N., and Gamble, W. (1991). Attachment and depressive symptoms during adolescence: A developmental pathways analysis. Develop. Psychopathal. 3: 461–474.
Loevinger, J. (1957). Objective tests as instruments of psychological theory. Psychol. Rep. 3: 635–694.
Main, M., and Goldwyn, R. (1985–1994). Adult Attachment Scoring and Classification System. Unpublished manuscript, University of California at Berkeley, Department of Psychology.
Main, M., Kaplan, N., and Cassidy, J. (1985). Security in infancy, childhood and adulthood: A move to a level of representation. In Bretherton, I., and Waters, E. (eds.), Growing Points in Attachment Theory and Research, Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development (Vol. 50). University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Marton, P., and Maharaj, M. A. (1993). Family factors in adolescent unipolar depression. Can. J. Psychiat. 38: 373–382.
Marvin, R. S. (1977). An ethological-cognitive model for attenuation of mother-child attachment behavior. In Alloway, T. M., Kramer, L., and Pliner, P. (eds.), Advances in the Study of Communication and Affect (Vol. 3). Plenum Press, New York.
Parker, G., Tupling, M., and Brown, C. (1979). A parental bonding instrument. Br. J. Med. Psychiat. 52: 1–10.
Rice, K. G. (1990). Attachment in adolescence. J. Youth Adolesc. 19: 511–538.
Sroufe, L. A., and Waters, E. (1977). Attachment as an organizing construct. Child Develop. 48: 1184–1199.
Steinberg, L. D. (1990). Interdependency in the family: Autonomy, conflict, and harmony in the parent-adolescent relationship. In Feldman, S., and Elliot, G (eds.), At the Threshold: The Developing Adolescent. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Ward, M. J., and Carlson, E. A. (1995). The predictive validity of the adult attachment interview for adolescent mothers. Child Develop.66: 69–79.
Weiss, R. S. (1982). Attachment in adult life. In Parkes C. M., and Stevenson-Hinde, J. (eds.) The Place of Attachment in Human Behavior. Basic Books, New York.
Weiss, R. S. (1991). The attachment bond in childhood and adulthood. In Parkes, C. M., Marris, P., and Stevenson-Hinde, J. (eds.) Attachment Across the Life Cycle, Routledge New York.
West, M., and Sheldon-Keller, A. (1992). The assessment of dimensions relevant to adult reciprocal attachment. Can. J. Psychiat. 37: 600–606.
West, M., and Sheldon-Keller, A. (1994). Patterns of Relating: An Adult Attachment Perspective, Guilford Publications, New York.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
West, M., Rose, M.S., Spreng, S. et al. Adolescent Attachment Questionnaire: A Brief Assessment of Attachment in Adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence 27, 661–673 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022891225542
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022891225542