Attachment Classification Deconfusion 101
the explanations below kindly provided by Dr. Pascal Vrticka
Different attachment measures were independently developed for different ages (mainly children vs. adults), are based on different measurement tools (behavioural observations vs. interviews vs. self-report questionnaires), have different objectives in mind (infant behaviour towards caregivers and strangers vs. verbal recollections of previous attachment experiences with one’s parents vs. self-reported thoughts and emotions within romantic relationships), and they furthermore stem from two different attachment traditions (developmental vs. social psychology).
Please note that the unresolved attachment category – derived from the AAI (row 2 of the table above) – refers to a specific difficult event of loss or trauma, rather than being a person’s overall attachment orientation. Thus, for instance, a person can be overall securely attached, yet also have an unresolved attachment narrative when it comes to a specific person and/or event in their life.Therefore, the unresolved attachment category is not included in the table as a separate category.
And to be even clearer:
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Disorganised attachment is an attachment orientation attributed to infants derived from the SSP (see first row in the table). It is assigned if there is conflicted, confused, and/or apprehensive child behaviour towards their caregiver, or a complete lack of an organised child behavioural attachment strategy.
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There is NO such thing as an “insecure-disorganised adult attachment style”.
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Fearful-avoidant attachment is NOT another name for disorganised attachment.
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Insecure-avoidant and -dismissive attachment are different terms that designate essentially the same attachment orientation. The same logic goes for insecure-ambivalent/resistant/preoccupied/anxious attachment. And for autonomous and secure attachment.
For more information please visit the Society for Emotion and Attachment Studies (SEAS) website or Dr. Vrticka's myth-busting page.
