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Attachment measures in middle childhood and adolescence: A systematic review of measurement properties
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Attachment theory proposes that humans develop representations of self and other in early childhood which are relatively stable across the life-course, and play a key role in psychological adaptation. However, to date, the psychometric properties of attachment measures in middle childhood and adolescence have not been evaluated in a systematic review. METHOD: A systematic review (PROSPERO ID: CRD42017057772) was conducted using COSMIN criteria. Two researchers independently searched MEDLINE, PsychINFO and Embase databases for relevant articles. RESULTS: Fifty-four studies were included in the review. The methodological quality of studies was typically fair or poor, with only a small number of studies being rated as of good or excellent quality. The measurement properties of attachment measures in this age group were frequently rated as inadequate according to COSMIN criteria. The Child Attachment Interview (CAI) has the best psychometric properties of the interview and projective measures, and the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) the best evidence of the self-report measures. Overall, the evidence for the CAI and IPPA included both positive and negative findings relating to adequacy of measurement properties. CONCLUSIONS: Attachment measures in middle childhood and adolescence currently have limited evidence for the adequacy of their psychometric properties.
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“Furthermore, although Jewell et al. [43] see the ECR as an appropriate instrument for the assessment of attachment in young people, they also state that this construct is difficult to measure in adolescence and necessitate the use of developmentally adapted measures.”
From Get secure soon: attachment in abused adolescents and young adults before and after trauma-focused cognitive processing therapy. (2021) · cites this paper as [43]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Jewell, T., Gardner, T., Susi, K., Watchorn, K., Coopey, E., Simic, M., Fonagy, P., & Eisler, I.
- Affiliations
- King's College London (GB)
- Anna Freud Centre (GB)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- University College London (GB)
- Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (GB)
- South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Jewell, Tom
- Venue
- Clinical Psychology Review
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2019-03
- Volume
- 68
- Pages
- 71-82
- ISSN
- 0272-7358 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2906720146
- Cited by
- 133
- References
- 65
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 9
- FWCI
- 2.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Clinical Psychology Review (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Doctoral Research Fellowship (CDRF-2014-05-024)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Psychological Testing and Assessment
- Keywords
- attachment, psychometric properties, middle childhood, adolescence, Child Attachment Interview, Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment, self-report measures, projective techniques
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Child, Humans, Interview, Psychological, Object Attachment, Psychological Tests, Psychometrics, Reproducibility of Results
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