Internal structure and reliability of the Attachment Insecurity Screening Inventory (AISI) for children age 6 to 12

Abstract

BackgroundThe aim of the present study was to examine the internal structure and reliability of the Attachment Insecurity Screening Inventory (AISI) 6–12. The AISI 6–12 years is a parent-report questionnaire for assessing the parents’ perspective on the quality of the attachment relationship with their child aged between 6 and 12 years.MethodsThe sample consisted of 681 mothers and fathers reporting on 372 children (72.3% adoption parents, 14.9% non-biological primary care takers including foster parents, and 12.8% biological parents). The internal structure was assessed with multilevel confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) and the reliability of the scores with Cronbach’s and ordinal alphas.ResultsMultilevel CFA confirmed a three-factor model of avoidant, ambivalent/resistant and disorganized attachment. Multi-group CFA indicated full configural and metric measurement invariance, and partial scalar and strict measurement invariance across mothers and fathers. Reliability coefficients were found to be sufficient.ConclusionsThis study showed the potential of using parental reports in the initial screening of attachment related problems, especially considering the practical approach of parental reports. However, further development of the AISI 6–12 years seems important to increase the validity of the AISI 6–12 years. In addition, future studies are necessary to replicate the current findings, and to strengthen the evidence that the AISI 6–12 years is appropriate for the use in middle childhood and validly assesses the parents’ perspective on attachment insecurities in their child.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12888-018-1608-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Sexual abuse in very young children: a psychological assessment in the Amsterdam Sexual Abuse Case study

“…Our sample was comprised of children who had experienced exclusively extrafamilial CSA, and most were growing up in non-disruptive families with high socioeconomic status, intact family composition, and the likelihood of attachment problems comparable to that in Dutch community samples and lower than that reported for Dutch clinical samples: a meta-analysis by van IJzendoorn, Schuengel, and Bakermans-Kranenburg (1999) showed 15% avoidant attachment, 9% ambivalent attachment, and 15% disorganized attachment insecurity in the general population. Although comparison is limited because the meta-analysis mainly included studies using observational methods for measuring attachment insecurity, in clinical samples (children aged 2.5–5 and 6–12 years referred for possible attachment problems) rates of clinically significant insecure attachment, measured using the AISI questionnaire, were much higher: respectively, 24.9% and 41.1% for avoidant attachment, 30.9% and 26.6% for ambivalent attachment, 34.6% and 28.5% for disorganized attachment, and 60.8% and 66.5% for total attachment insecurity (unpublished data related to the publication by Spruit et al, 2018). Secure attachment and parental support have been shown to protect against consequences of stress (Beaudoin, Hébert, & Bernier, 2013; Domhardt et al, 2015).…”

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“…Reliability coefficients have previously been reported to range from sufficient to good for both questionnaires (Spruit et al, 2018; Wissink et al, 2016). For the AISI 2–5, Cronbach’s α was sufficient for the subscale Ambivalent Attachment (α = .67) and good for the subscales Avoidant Attachment (α = .80) and for Disorganized Attachment (α = .79).…”

“…The Attachment Insecurity Screening Inventory (AISI; Polderman & Kellaert-Knol, 2012; Spruit et al, 2018; Wissink et al, 2016) 2–5 years and 6–12 years were used to assess parents’ perspectives on the quality of the attachment relationship with their child aged between 2 and 5 years and 6 and 12 years. The questionnaire measures children’s insecure attachment behavior as reported by parents.…”

“…Both questionnaires have been recently validated (Spruit et al, 2018; Wissink et al, 2016). Confirmatory factor analyses have demonstrated construct validity of the AISI, confirming the theoretically based factor solution, including the three subscales of attachment insecurity and one higher order total insecurity scale.…”

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“…These questionnaires are part of our standard clinical care. In addition, we will evaluate temperament and attachment using validated questionnaires (Putnam et al, 2006;Spruit et al, 2018) (Table 2).…”