AAI coherence predicts caregiving and care seeking behavior: Secure base script knowledge helps explain why

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated significant links between the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) and secure base use and support in marital interactions. The mechanisms underlying such findings have not been examined in detail. This paper examines the hypothesis that script-like attachment representations shape both attachment narratives and attachment-related caregiving behavior and thus helps explain the correlation between them. Crowell et al. (2002) reported that AAI transcript coherence is significantly related to adults’ caregiving and care seeking in couple problem solving interactions. In a random selection of 60 cases from that study, we assessed the extent to which interviewees conceptualized their early attachment experiences in terms of a secure base script. A series of regression analyses demonstrated that approximately 80% of the correlation between AAI coherence and laboratory caregiving and care seeking reported by Crowell et al. (2002) is accounted for by secure base script knowledge. Scoring secure base script knowledge from AAI transcripts is a useful step toward understanding links between early experience, adult attachment representations, and adults’ ability to provide and seek support in close relationships.

Keywords:

• attachment
• Adult Attachment Interview
• couple problem solving
• secure base script

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr Brian Vaughn for helpful suggestions regarding the data analysis.

Notes

1.See Bosmans, Braet, Koster, & De Raedt (2009) for some preliminary efforts to assess attachment related attentional strategies and interpretation biases in experimental tasks that are independent of attachment assessments.