Dimensionality and Psychometric Properties of a New Child Attachment Assessment Instrument

Abstract

The Children Attachment Interview (EAN) is a new instrument based on story telling reports. The main purpose of this study is to analyze the structure and basic psychometric properties of the EAN through exploratory factor analyses based on a sample of 115 Spanish children aged 8 to 13 years (63 % boys). Another two matched samples from the risk social population and clinical population were compared with the main sample in order to obtain criterial validity. Findings reveal a multi-internal structure composed of four factors that refer to children´s reactions (positive, trustful, negative and mistrustful) and five factors that refer to child-attachment figure interactions (empathic, trustful, positive, rivalry and proarousal). Scales demonstrated adequate internal consistency. The comparison of scales between general and criterial groups, and correlations with related constructs indicate good construct validity.