This study examined early adolescent romantic "churning," defined here as having a large number of boyfriends/girlfriends by age 13, as a problematic marker likely to predict hostility, abuse, and avoidance during conflict in later relationships. A sample of 184 adolescents was followed through age 24 to assess predictions of hostility,…

Attachment theory suggests that early experiences with caregivers are carried forward across development in the form of mental representations of attachment experiences. Researchers have investigated at least two representation-based constructs when studying attachment and successful adaptation in adulthood: (a) coherence of autobiographical…

The present study explored how romantic relationship qualities develop with age and relationship length. Eight waves of data on romantic relationships were collected over 10.5 years during adolescence and early adulthood from a community-based sample in a Western U.S. city (100 males, 100 females; M age Wave 1 = 15.83). Measures of support,…

Background: Longitudinal research has demonstrated that individual differences in attachment security show only modest continuity from infancy to adulthood. Recent findings based on retrospective reports suggest that individuals' genetic variation may moderate the developmental associations between early attachment-relevant relationship…

This study examined the developmental significance of adult attachment security--as measured by the Adult Attachment Interview--for romantic relationship functioning concurrently and approximately 1 year later in a sample of heterosexual dating couples between the ages of 18 and 25 (115 dyads at Time 1 [T1] and 57 dyads at T2, 74% White). The…

This study examined the relationship between adolescents' attachment style and their decision to enter mentoring relationships. The participants were 569 Greek Cypriot high school students. It was found that adolescents who have a mentor are more secure in their attachment than those who do not. Girls with low scores in secure attachment do not…

To better understand the origins of autonomic reactivity during marital interactions, this study examined the psychophysiological profiles of prototypically secure (vs. insecure) and deactivating (vs. hyperactivating) adults while they talked about areas of disagreement with their (pre)marital partners. Adults who idealized their caregivers…

This study examined the extent to which young adults recollections of their childhood experiences with parents were associated with their reported feelings and behavior in romantic relationships. Participants were 205 young adults. Based on a question from the Adult Attachment Interview (George, Kaplan, & Main, 1996), participants wrote…

A secure "state of mind with regard to attachment", as assessed by the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), as well as attachment styles as assessed by questionnaires (the two most prevalent facets of attachment representations assessed in adolescence and adulthood) were examined as potential contributors to adolescents' capacity for…

The role of attachment style in relation to forgiveness was investigated in 2 betrayal interviews. Blood pressure and heart rate were assessed, along with attachment style, forgiveness, empathy, and emotional expressiveness. Securely attached individuals were more forgiving of the specific offense, had higher levels of trait forgiveness, and…

The primary goal of this study was to examine the feasibility of using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) with 50 culturally deaf adults. Modifications to the standard protocol included using a visual-spatial language (American Sign Language) rather than a spoken language (English), as well as coding and procedural variations from the…

Studied the relation of patterns of attachment and psychiatric status in 82 nonpsychotic inpatients and 85 case-matched controls using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). Preliminary outcome results suggest that individuals rated as dismissing on the AAI are more likely to show improvements in psychotherapy. Discusses other findings. (KW)

Examines the relationship between parental attachment histories and child externalizing and internalizing behaviors. The Adult Attachment Interview was given to 27 mothers and fathers with children 3.5 years old. Models that included fathers' attachment histories predicted more variance in kindergarten teachers' descriptions of children's…

Used Current Relationship Interview (CRI) to examine correspondence between adults' models of their current love relationships and generalized attachment models accessed by the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). Found that early experience influences later relationships, but little support for the idea that a working model formed by caregiver-child…

This meta-analysis on 33 studies, including more than 2,000 Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) classifications, presents distributions of AAI classifications in samples of nonclinical fathers and mothers, in adolescents, in samples from different cultures, and in clinical groups. Fathers, adolescents, and participants from different countries show…