Attachment measures
psychological technique
Attachment measures, or attachment assessments, are procedures used to assess the attachment system in children and adults. These procedures can assess patterns of attachment and individual self-protective strategies. Some assessments work across the several models of attachment and some are model-specific.
Many assessments allow children and adults' attachment strategies to be classified into three primary attachment pattern groups: B-pattern (autonomous, balanced, blended, secure), A-pattern (avoidant, dismissive, cognitive, insecure), and C-pattern (ambivalent, preoccupied, resistant, affective, insecure). In most models, each pattern group is further broken down into several sub-patterns. Some assessments can find additional information about an individual, such as unresolved trauma, depression, history of family triangulation, and lifespan changes in the attachment pattern. Some assessments specifically or additionally look for caregiving behaviors, as caregiving and attachment are considered two separate systems for organizing thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Some methods assess disorders of attachment or romantic attachment.
Attachment models are typically generated from the schools of developmental science or social psychology, although both emanate from the Bowlby-Ainsworth framework. Ainsworth's Strange Situation Procedure was the first formal attachment assessment, and is still in wide use.
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