Adult Personality Characteristics and Family
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ADULT PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS AND FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS: THE DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF AN INTERVIEW-BASED ASSESSMENT TEC*\ . Howard Lyle Steele Thesis presented to the Faculty of Science of the University of London for the degree of Ph.D. 1991 ProQuest Number: 10610962 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10610962 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ABSTRACT The present series of studies aimed to examine the reliability and validity of an interview-based assessment of adults’ security of attachment. Security of attachment in early childhood has been given well-established operational definitions (secure versus insecure) by the Strange Situation paradigm which has been shown to predict children’s future emotional well being. However, it is only recently that the Adult Attachment Interview was proposed as a corollary assessment of attachment security in adulthood. The work reported in this thesis investigates, from a number of perspectives, the reliability and validity of this interview-based assessment. In the context of an extensive review of the literature concerning the influence of early childhood experience upon subsequent development, the introductory chapter highlights a number of areas critical to the establishment of the construct validity of the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). Subsequent chapters explore the instrument, and its associated system of classifying and rating interview-responses, in terms of test-retest reliability; inter-rater reliability; the multi-dimensionality of the attachment construct; concurrent validity; predictive validity and discriminant validity. The first study confirmed the test-retest reliability of the AAI classification system over a period of one-month, suggesting that adults’ mental models of family relationships are a stable personality characteristic. On the basis of this first study, revisions to the AAI rating system were proposed and tested in subsequent investigations with a sample of 100 expectant mothers and 100 expectant fathers. The interviews collected from these 200 adults were rated on a series of 29 interval scales assessing Probable Past Experience and Current State of Mind with respect to attachment. Also, the interviews were classified as Secure-Autonomous, Insecure-Dismissing, or Insecure-Preoccupied, the presumed correlates of secure, avoidant and resistant patterns of infant attachment. When these adults* children were 12 months of age, the quality of the child-mother attachment was assessed; and when the children were 18 months of age, the quality of the child-father attachment was assessed. The chapter on predictive validity of the AAI reports that the antenatal interview- based assessments successfully distinguished securely attached from avoidantly attached infants. The chapter on concurrent validity indicates that information obtained from classification of an individual’s AAI is distinct from information obtained by questionnaire-based assessments of self-esteem, and attachment history. The chapter on discriminant validity shows that AAI-responses are largely independent of verbal skills, demographic characteristics, and the personality traits of neuroticism and extroversion. Through factor analysis of AAI-based ratings, the multi-dimensionality of the attachment construct is confirmed in terms of parent-specific and global dimensions to attachment. Both the child and the adult appear to possess distinct mental models of the individual’s relationship with father, and with mother. In addition to, and over-riding these parent-specific mental models of attachment, attachment security in adulthood is typified by the presence of global representations of attachment, reflected in the extent to which an adult demonstrates a coherent or metacognitive understanding of his parent-specific attachment experiences. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people helped me to undertake and complete the work presented in this thesis. For his unfailing interest, support and scientific insight, I thank Professor Peter Fonagy. For traversing with me the distances covered by the work reported here, I thank Dr Miriam Steele. The structure of this thesis was bom out of a much valued research alliance among Miriam, Peter and myself. For three years of financial sponsorship, I am indebted to the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission. I am also indebted to the participants in the research. The individuals who allowed themselves to be interviewed shared openly their thoughts and feelings concerning family relationships. They gave generously of their time. I also wish to thank Dr Anna Higgitt for giving so freely of her time in providing independent ratings of interviews, Professor Mary Main and her colleagues for their pioneering work with the Adult Attachment Interview, Dr Mary J Ward for her expert training in the use of the Strange Situation, Dr John Bowlby for his prudent encouragement, Dr George Moran for his sagacious support, Professor R J Audley for equipping the UCL-Parent-Child- Project Lab and generously endowing me with the time to complete the thesis, Dr Adrian Fumham for consistent encouragement, and Mary Target for studiously reading the manuscript. I also wish to thank a number of individuals who provided invaluable laboratory assistance: Karen Pinder, Arabella Kurtz, Caroline Burt, Ronna Hall, Gemma Rocco, and Michael Smith. V TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 THE EFFECTS OF EARLY EXPERIENCE WITH PARENTS UPON SUBSEQUENT DEVELOPMENT: CONCEPTUAL AND EMPIRICAL ISSUES 1 CHAPTER 2 AN INVESTIGATION OF THE TEST-RETEST RELIABILITY OF THE ADULT ATTACHMENT INTERVIEW 59 CHAPTER 3 THE SYSTEM OF RATING AND CLASSIFYING ADULT ATTACHMENT INTERVIEWS: CONSOLIDATION OF PAST RESEARCH AND NEW PROPOSALS 95 CHAPTER 4 AN INVESTIGATION OF THE MULTI DIMENSIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE ADULT ATTACHMENT INTERVIEW: INTER-RATER RELIABILITIES AND INTERNAL CONSISTENCIES 129 CHAPTER 5 ADULT ATTACHMENT INTERVIEW-BASED FACTOR SCALES, RATINGS AND CLASSIFICATIONS 162 CHAPTER 6 ON THE CONCURRENT VALIDITY OF THE ADULT ATTACHMENT INTERVIEW 185 CHAPTER 7 ON THE PREDICTIVE VALIDITY OF THE ADULT ATTACHMENT INTERVIEW 226 CHAPTER 8 ON THE DISCRIMINANT VALIDITY OF THE ADULT ATTACHMENT INTERVIEW 266 CHAPTER 9 FINAL DISCUSSION 296 REFERENCES 321 vi LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix 2.1 Adult Attachment Interview questions and probes 335 Appendix 2.2 Four judges (A,B,C,D) ratings of the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) scales: Means, standard deviations and ranges 336 Appendix 2.3 Probable Experience Scale inter-rater reliabilities: Correlations amongst four judges (A,B,C,D) in their ratings of the Adult Attachment Interviews from 26 individuals interviewed twice (time 1 & time 2) 339 Appendix 2.4 State of Mind Scale inter-rater reliabilities: correlations amongst four judges (A,B,C,D) in their ratings of the AAIs from 26 individuals interviewed twice 345 Appendix 2.5 Probable Experience Scale test-retest reliabilities: intra-rater agreement for judges (A,B,C,D) in their ratings of the AAIs from 26 individuals interviewed twice 350 Appendix 2.6 State of Mind Scale test-retest reliabilities: intra-rater agreement for judges (A,B,C,D) in their ratings of the AAIs from 26 individuals interviewed twice 352 Appendix 3.1 Manual for the rating and classifying of Adult Attachment Interviews 354 Appendix 4.1 Consent form completed by subjects in the longitudinal study 376 Appendix 4.2 Four judges’ (A,B,C,D) ratings of the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) scales: Means, standard deviations, and ranges for the sample of 100 expectant Mothers 377 Appendix 4.3 Means, standard deviations and ranges of three judges (A,B,C) ratings of the Adult Attachment Interviews of the 100 Expectant Fathers 381 vii Appendix 4.4 Correlation matrices of judges* ratings of the AAI Probable Experience Scales applied to the interviews of the 100 expectant Mothers 385 Appendix 4.5 Correlation matrices of judges’ ratings of the AAI State of Mind scales applied to the interviews of the 100 expectant Mothers 387 Appendix 4.6 Correlation matrices of four judges ratings of the newly devised UCL scales applied to the Adult Attachment Interviews of the 100 expectant Mothers 389 Appendix 4.7 Correlation matrices of judges’ ratings of the AAI Probable Experience scales as applied to the interviews of the 100 expectant Fathers 391 Appendix 4.8 Correlation matrices of judges’ ratings of the AAI State of Mind scales applied to the interviews of the 100 expectant Fathers 393 Appendix 4.9 Correlation matrices of 3 judges’ ratings of the newly devised UCL AAI scales applied to the 100 Father Interviews 395 Appendix 6.1 Mother-Father-Peer Scale 397 Appendix 6.2 Means and standard deviations for responses to the Mother-Father-Peer Scale 400 Appendix 6.3 Sources of Self-Esteem Inventory 401 Appendix 6.4 Means and Standard deviations for responses to the sources of Self-Esteem Inventory 409 Appendix 6.5 Affect-Grid 410 Appendix 6.6 Means and standard deviations for responses to the Affect-Grid 411 Appendix 6.7 Example