Shmueli-Goetz, Yael; (2001) The child attachment interview: Development and validation. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

The current thesis describes the development of the Child Attachment Interview (CAI), a new measure for the assessment of attachment representations in eight to twelve year olds. The first part of the thesis presents an historical review of the foundations of attachment theory and examines recent theoretical and empirical developments within the attachment field. The measurement of attachment across the life cycle is subsequently presented and critically evaluated in light of empirical findings, highlighting the "measurement gap" in the assessment of attachment in middle childhood. A review of developmental considerations in the assessment of attachment in the aforementioned age range forms the theoretical and empirical foundation upon which the development of the CAI is subsequently described and piloted. The second part of the thesis concerns the development of, and refinements to, the CAI protocol and classification system. Operational criteria for the identification of central narrative dimensions and guidelines for the classification of attachment patterns are presented. The study of the psychometric properties of the CAI follows with an examination of aspects of reliability including inter-rater and test-retest reliability. The validation of the CAI is subsequently determined focusing upon criterion, discriminant, predictive and concurrent validity. The findings indicated that the CAI constitutes a reliable and valid measure for the assessment of attachment in the eight to twelve years age range. High inter-rater reliability was demonstrated across several samples and judges, in addition to satisfactory test-retest reliability. Attachment security constituted a significant predictor of clinical status and whilst it was not significantly associated with expressive language competence or intelligence, it was moderately associated with behaviour problems. Concordance with maternal attachment status, attachment security assessed concurrently and stability over a three-year period were finally demonstrated. In the final chapter, the findings are discussed and limitations and consideration of the study are presented. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and empirical implications of the study and considerations of future directions in the development and validation of the CAI.

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