Measuring Attachment Dimensions in Adolescents: Development and Validation of the Experiences in Close Relationships — Revised — General Short Form
Abstract
The assessment of attachment in adolescence remains problematic, with the most widely used measure, the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA; Armsden & Greenberg, 1987), argued to have major short-comings. This article reports two studies examining the psychometric properties of a shortened and modified version of the Experiences in Close Relationships — Revised (ECR-R) (Fraley, Waller, & Brennan, 2000), the Experiences in Close Relationships — Revised — General Short Form (ECR-R-GSF), for the assessment of general relationship attachment anxiety and avoidance in adolescents and young adults. Confirmatory factor analyses in two independent samples of high school and university students (Total N= 1187, 11 to 22 years) demonstrate support for the two-factor model of attachment anxiety and avoidance. The measurement model was supported across data sets and was not significantly different with respect to either age or sex. While the ECR-R-GSF demonstrated appropriate convergent and discriminant validity with the Relationships Questionnaire (RQ (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991) it did not converge with specific, parental relationship attachment as assessed by the IPPA. The ECR-R-GSF is argued to be a reliable and psychometrically sound instrument for assessing general attachment dimensions across a wide age range.
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Wilkinson and Brenning et al. modified the ECR-R for use with adolescents, but no validated German version is available.
“Wilkinson [62] and Brenning et al. [63] modified the ECR-R for use with adolescents but, for the time being, no validated German version is available.”
From Get secure soon: attachment in abused adolescents and young adults before and after trauma-focused cognitive processing therapy. (2021) · cites this paper as [62]
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- Authors
- Wilkinson, R. B.
- Affiliations
- Australian National University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Wilkinson, Ross B.
- ORCID
- Wilkinson, Ross B.
- Venue
- Journal of Relationships Research
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2011-10-01
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 53-62
- ISSN
- 1838-0956 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2147891020
- Cited by
- 51
- References
- 48
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 3
- FWCI
- 2.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Relationships Research (publishedVersion)
- ANU Open Research (Australian National University) (submittedVersion)
- 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 › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- attachment, adolescents, young adults, attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised, Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment, psychometric validation, parental attachment, close relationships
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