Abstract

MELERO, Remedios  and  CANTERO, Mª José. Affective styles in a Spanish sample: a questionnaire for the assessment of adult attachment. Clínica y Salud [online]. 2008, vol.19, n.1, pp.83-100. ISSN 2174-0550.

This article describes the elaboration and measurement of the "Adult Attachment Questionnaire". A total of 445 subjects, 159 men and 286 women, with a mean age of 30.5 filled in the original questionnaire. The results suggested the four factor solution as the most suitable -it consists of 40 items. These factors were Low Self-Esteem, Need for Approval and Fear of Rejection, Hostile Conflict Resolution, Rancour and Possessiveness, Expression of Feelings and Comfort with Relationships, and Emotional Self-Sufficiency and Discomfort with Intimacy. In order to obtain typologies, clusters analyses were made. A two cluster solution classified subjects in secure and insecure, and a four factor solution into secure, preoccupied, dismissing and hostile fearful. Our results point out a somehow different fearful style from that of Bartholomew and Horowitz’s (1991). Furthermore, particularities of the affective styles found in the factorial solution are also discussed, along with its psychometric properties. The results show that both groups of students have more similarities than differences and that their consideration of this problem is similar to the one of the general population. They regard it as an unacceptable and serious social problem occurring frequently, where diverse individual and social causes play a role.

Keywords : Adult attachment; Assessment; Typologies.

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