Abstract / Summary
Objective: Attachment is a robust protective factor for youth mental health. This study examined the factor structure and validity of the Adolescent Attachment Anxiety and Avoidance Inventory (AAAAI), a 16-item measure of youth (8–18 years) attachment in parent and other caregiving relationships. Structural validity was assessed using parallel youth and parent report formats among over 2,000 respondents from both clinical and community samples.
Method: Participants were caregivers in three independent clinical samples and one community sample (N = 571, 407, 220, and 551) and youth self-reporting in the first clinical sample (N = 571). Youth were 7.5 to 18 years old (sample means 13.4 to 14.6), 51% to 61% female, and 61% to 78% White. Caregivers were predominantly mothers (80% to 96%). Confirmatory factor analyses were followed by multi- informant models and tests of associations with caregiver-reported internalizing and externalizing problems.
Results: A two-factor structure replicated across all samples under a single specification, whereas a one- factor model fit poorly. Differential associations with youth internalizing and externalizing problems supported the discriminant validity of each subscale. Multi-method analyses confirmed that anxiety and avoidance were distinguishable across informants, while moderate parent-youth convergence suggested complementary rather than interchangeable perspectives.
Conclusions: The findings support the AAAAI as a measure of attachment anxiety and avoidance in both parent and youth report. For research and clinical practice, the two subscales capture distinct attachment patterns, and parent and youth forms together show where caregivers and youth see the relationship similarly and where they differ.