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Attachment Classification Deconfusion 101

the explanations below kindly provided by Dr. Pascal Vrticka

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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).

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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:

  • 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.
  • There is NO such thing as an “insecure-disorganised adult attachment style”.
  • Fearful-avoidant attachment is NOT another name for disorganised attachment.
  • 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.

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