Child Attachment Interviews

The very first instruments for assessment of child attachment were mostly observational, including the classical Strange Situation by Mary Ainsworth, and were designed to measure attachment security for children of 5 years old and younger. Further growth of attachment tools included development of the Cassidy and Marvin system, story stems and drawings, categorical forced-choice descriptions, doll play, and different self-report measures intended to be completed by caregivers (for review of infancy and early childhood attachment tools, see research by Peter Fonagy). This entry describes a number of interview instruments and tools for assessing attachment in children.

Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). Development of exclusively interview-based attachment tools started with Mary Main’s Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), considered the “gold standard” measure. Interviews as tools for measuring attachment in ...