The Friends and Family Interview: Measurement invariance across Belgium and Romania

Stiévenart, Marie; Casonato, Marta; Muntean, Ana; Schoot, Rens van de

doi:10.1080/17405629.2012.689822

Cited by 27 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…The FFI has demonstrated good interrater reliability and construct validity (Kriss, Steele, & Steele, 2012) and has been used successfully with samples of adopted children (Stievenart, Casonato, Muntean, & van de Schoot, 2012). The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim before being coded by one of the researchers (AM) trained in using the FFI Rating and Classification system (Kriss et al, 2012).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Father-child attachment in adoptive gay father families

McConnachie

Ayed

Jadva

et al. 2019

Attachment & Human Development

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Father-child attachment in adoptive gay father families

McConnachie

Ayed

Jadva

et al. 2019

Attachment & Human Development

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“…The FFI has been shown to have good interrater reliability and construct validity (Kriss et al ., 2012) and has been used successfully with both adopted and donor-conceived samples (Stievenart et al ., 2012; Slutsky et al ., 2016). …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children's thoughts and feelings about their donor and security of attachment to their solo mothers in middle childhood

et al. 2017

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STUDY QUESTIONWhat is the relationship between children's thoughts and feelings about their donor and their security of attachment to their solo mothers in middle childhood?SUMMARY ANSWERChildren with higher levels of secure–autonomous attachment to their mothers were more likely to have positive perceptions of the donor, and those with higher levels of insecure–disorganized attachment to their mothers were more likely to perceive him negatively.WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADYThere is limited understanding of the factors that contribute to children's thoughts and feelings about their donor in solo mother families. In adolescence, an association was found between adolescents’ curiosity about donor conception and their security of attachment to their mothers.STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION19 children were administered the Friends and Family Interview and Donor Conception Interview between December 2015 and March 2016 as part of the second phase of a longitudinal, multi-method, multi-informant study of solo mother families.PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODSAll children were aged between 7 and 13 years and had been conceived by donor insemination to solo mothers. Interviews were conducted in participants’ homes. The Friends and Family Interview was rated according to a standardized coding scheme designed to measure security of attachment in terms of secure–autonomous, insecure–dismissing, insecure–preoccupied and insecure–disorganized attachment patterns. Quantitative analyses of the Donor Conception Interview yielded two factors: interest in the donor and perceptions of the donor. Qualitative analyses of the Donor Conception Interview were conducted using qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis.MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCEStatistically significant associations were found between the perception of the donor scale and the secure–autonomous and insecure–disorganized attachment ratings. Children with higher levels of secure–autonomous attachment to their mothers were more likely to have positive perceptions of the donor (r = 0.549, P = 0.015), and those with higher levels of insecure–disorganized attachment to their mothers were more likely to perceive him negatively (r = −0.632, P = 0.004). Children's narratives about the donor depicted him as a stranger (n = 8), a biological father (n = 4), a social parent (n = 3), or in ambivalent terms (n = 4).LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTIONFindings are limited by the wide age range of children within a small overall sample size. Participants were those willing and able to take part in research on donor conception families. The statistical significance of correlation coefficients was not corrected for multiple comparisons.WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGSFindings highlight the importance of situating children's ideas about the donor within family contexts. It is recommended that those working with donor conception families consider this when advising parents about whether, what and how to tell children about donor conception.STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S)Th...

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“…This is in line with the purpose of the FFI and consistent with the latent structures of other interview‐based techniques for assessing attachment (e.g., regarding the CAI, see Haltigan, Roisman & Haydon, ; Zachrisson et al ., ). It is also in line with previous findings indicating construct validity for the FFI dimensional scales of coherence and secure base/safe haven with respect to mother and father (Psouni & Apetroaia, ; Stievenart et al ., ). Notably, the variables of self‐regard and social competence had also clear placement in the first latent factor, in line with previous evidence that positive self‐perceptions are closely linked to attachment security in middle childhood (Booth‐LaForce, Oh, Kim, Rubin, Rose‐Krasnor & Burgess, ; Clark & Symons, ; Diener, Isabella, Behunin & Wong, ; Isabella & Diener, ; Psouni, Di Folco & Zavattini, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Furthermore, classifications of children based on the FFI are concordant with classifications from the SSP (Kriss, et al ., ; Steele & Steele, ), and, in adopted children, with the mothers’ attachment IWM classifications based on the AAI (Pace, Di Folco, Guerriero & Muzi, ). In addition, one of the FFI measures, coherence, appears similar across different countries and cultures (Stievenart, Casonato, Muntean & Van den Schoot, ). Importantly, classifications of adolescents as secure and dismissive, respectively, based on the FFI, are associated with distinct patterns of behavior and brain activation when processing emotional stimuli (facial expressions) (Escobar, Rivera‐Rei, Decety et al ., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factor structure of the Friends and Family interview

Psouni

Breinholst

Esbjørn

et al. 2020

Scandinavian J Psychology

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2020). Factor structure of the Friends and Family interview. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 61, 460-469.The aim of this study was to specify the latent construct structure of the Friends and Family Interview (FFI: Steele & Steele, 2005) based on its dimensional scale coding protocol. The FFI is a semi-structured interview measuring attachment in middle childhood. We analyzed data from 341 FFI interviews with children aged 7-12 years, recruited in the Scandinavian € Oresund Region. Exploratory Factor Analysis revealed a three-component model as best fitting the data. The first component, denoting attachment security, gathered all dimensional scales for evidence of secure base/safe haven regarding mother/father and coherence in the child's narrative style, along with scales regarding reflective functioning, self-perception, and social functioning. The second component comprised preoccupying feelings of anger, but also derogation. The third component gathered all scales coding idealization. Interrelations among the components were consistent with attachment theory, and respondents' scores for all three components differed significantly across the four categorical attachment classifications. Affect regulation of negative emotion through anger and through derogation co-occurred, and was distinct from regulation through maintaining a belief that things are better than they appear (idealization). These two affect regulation strategies appeared commonly when reflective functioning, and an organized self-perception, and positive peer relations were less in evidence. The multi-dimensional FFI coding system appears to measure successfully these diverse features of the child's narrative provided in response to the interview. Overall, our findings support the construct validity of the FFI and provide further evidence of its usefulness for assessing attachment in middle childhood and early adolescence.Notes: CO = Coherence; ToM = Theory of Mind; DP = Developmental Perspective; DoF = Diversity of Feeling; Social comp = Social competence; School comp = school competence; Friend frequ = Frequency of contact/interaction with best friend; Friend quality = Quality of relationship with best friend; RR = Role Reversal; AR = Adaptive Response; DPR = Differentiation of Parental Representations; co = competence; mo = mother; fa = father.

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The Friends and Family Interview: Measurement invariance across Belgium and Romania

Cited by 27 publications

References 5 publications

Father-child attachment in adoptive gay father families

Father-child attachment in adoptive gay father families

Children's thoughts and feelings about their donor and security of attachment to their solo mothers in middle childhood

Factor structure of the Friends and Family interview

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