The experiences in close relationships—Relationship Structures Questionnaire: A method for assessing attachment orientations across relationships.

Abstract

Most research on adult attachment is based on the assumption that working models are relatively general and trait-like. Recent research, however, suggests that people develop attachment representations that are relationship-specific, leading people to hold distinct working models in different relationships. The authors report a measure, the Relationship Structures questionnaire of the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-RS; R. C. Fraley, N. G. Waller, & K. A. Brennan, 2000), that is designed to assess attachment dimensions in multiple contexts. Based on a sample of over 21,000 individuals studied online, it is shown that ECR-RS scores are reliable and have a structure similar to those produced by other measures. In Study 2 (N ϭ 388), it is shown that relationship-specific measures of attachment generally predict intra-and interpersonal outcomes better than broader attachment measures but that broader measures predict personality traits better than relationship-specific measures. Moreover, it is demonstrated that differentiation in working models is not related to psychological outcomes independently of mean levels of security.

Brainstem Activity Predicts Attachment-Related Anxiety

“…The NEO-FFI was administered to assess the constellation of traits defined by the Five Factor Theory of Personality (i.e., "openness," "conscientiousness," "extraversion," "agreeableness," and "neuroticism"). The ECR is designed to assess individual differences with respect to attachment-related anxiety (i.e., the extent to which people are insecure vs. secure about the availability and responsiveness of romantic partners) and attachment-related avoidance (i.e., the extent to which people are uncomfortable being close to others vs. secure depending on others) [26,27], with 18 items rated on a 7-point scale from 1 (not very true of me) to 7 (very true of me). The BCSS includes 24 items assessing beliefs about the self and others that are assessed on a 5-point rating scale (0 -4).…”

Attachment theory within clinical supervision: application of the conceptual to the empirical

“…Other studies have used continuous measurement of attachment avoidance and anxiety to place a person on a circumplex (e.g. high anxiety and avoidance is fearful; low anxiety and high avoidance, dismissing) (Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998;Fraley, Heffernan, Vicary, & Brumbaugh, 2011;Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007b).…”

“…It is uncertain why this subscale performed poorly. Previous uses of the measure have demonstrated acceptable reliability for the three-item subscale in larger samples (Fraley, Heffernan, Vicary, & Brumbaugh, 2011) and use in supervisory relationships specifically (Bennett, BrintzenhofeSzoc, Mohr, & Saks, 2008). Looking at the three items that compose the anxiety scale, it may be possible that in comparison to the avoidance items, which discuss actions like "opening up" or "discussing problems and concerns," the anxiety items may not apply as well to a professional relationship (e.g.…”

Parental attachment insecurity and parenting stress: The mediating role of parents’ perceived impact of children’s diabetes on the family.

“…Finally, we assessed parents' attachment orientations only in romantic relationships. Although romantic relationships are considered prototypical adult attachment relationships, it is important to note 14 that people's attachment orientations may differ depending on the relationship (Fraley et al, 2011;Moreira, Martins, et al, 2015). Therefore, it would be interesting for future studies to analyze attachment to different figures with regard to the associations explored in this study.…”