Short-term temporal stability and factor structure of the revised experiences in close relationships (ECR-R) measure of adult attachment
Introduction
Previous research has presented an extensive array of self-report survey measures of adult attachment. These measures have ranged from the original category models (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991, Hazan & Shaver, 1987) to more recently developed measures of the two latent dimensions, termed anxiety and avoidance, which are hypothesized to underlie the attachment construct (Brennan et al., 1998, Fraley et al., 2000, Griffin & Bartholomew, 1994a). One pertinent issue relevant to the measurement of attachment is the temporal instability reported in both previous categorical and continuous measures. Previous research has documented an average 30% change in attachment categories over relatively short time periods (e.g. Baldwin & Fehr, 1995, Baldwin et al., 1996, Kirkpatrick & Davis, 1994, Kirkpatrick & Hazan, 1994, Pistole, 1989, Senchak & Leonard, 1992). Similarly, when attachment is assessed using continuous measures, test re-test assessments commonly report between 0.25 and 0.65 shared variance (e.g. Collins & Read, 1990, Feeney et al., 1994a, Feeney et al., 1994b, Fuller & Fincham, 1995, Keelan et al., 1994, Levy & Davis, 1988, Shaver & Brennan, 1992). Although often interpreted as representing acceptable levels of test re-test reliability, these findings suggest that a considerable degree of variance remains unaccounted for by repeated measures of attachment over relatively short time periods (Baldwin & Fehr, 1995).
Two different explanations of short-term adult attachment instability have been proposed. The first perspective views change in attachment ratings as a meaningful process that may be influenced by individual differences and changing personal circumstances (Baldwin & Fehr, 1995, Davila et al., 1997, Hammond & Fletcher, 1991, Pierce & Lydon, 2001). However, although the majority of researchers agree that attachment may change over prolonged time periods (Bowlby, 1969, Bowlby, 1973, Bowlby, 1980, Crowell et al., 2002, Fraley, 2002), researchers have also argued that common estimates of attachment stability may also be biased by imprecise and unreliable measurement (Fraley & Waller, 1998, Fraley et al., 2000, Scharfe & Bartholomew, 1994). According to this second perspective the relatively high levels of short-term attachment instability reported in previous research may be at least partially due to unreliable measurement, rather than any meaningful change in underlying trait attachment itself (Scharfe & Bartholomew, 1994). Furthermore, recent research has suggested that some commonly used attachment scales (e.g. Collins & Read, 1990, Griffin & Bartholomew, 1994b) may actually overestimate attachment stability due to their inability to accurately discriminate levels of trait attachment across the entire range of trait scores (Fraley et al., 2000).
In an attempt to provide a more accurate and reliable measure of adult attachment, Fraley et al. (2000) developed the Revised Experiences in Close Relationships questionnaire (ECR-R), which was based on the reanalysis of a comprehensive 323 item dataset previously collected by Brennan et al. (1998). Exploratory factor analysis of the initial item clusters revealed a circular pattern of loadings, and thus no easily discernable two factor solution. Fraley et al. (2000) therefore manually rotated the axes until they aligned in a theoretically meaningful way with clusters of anxiety or avoidance related items. A pool of items was then selected using a relatively lenient item loading criterion derived from this manually rotated solution. The final ECR-R items were then selected from this reduced item pool based on their discrimination values (refer to van der Linen & Hambleton, 1997, for a detailed discussion of Item Response Theory). This yielded a scale with increased measurement precision, as item discrimination values were more evenly distributed across the entire trait range.
Fraley et al. (2000) examined the stability of the ECR-R using simulation analyses rather than repeated measures survey data. These simulation analyses estimated the shared variance in repeated measures of both anxiety and avoidance to be ∼90%. This estimate remained consistent when both actual and more ideal item parameter statistics were used. This suggests that unlike previous attachment scales, temporal stability estimates of the ECR-R are not biased by measurement imprecision.
However, although Fraley et al. (2000) provided strong evidence supporting the increased measurement precision of the ECR-R, the more traditionally assessed classical psychometric properties of the ECR-R, such as its internal reliability and factor structure, have not been previously examined. This issue is pertinent given the relatively lenient item loading criterion that was used when selecting the initial ECR-R item pool. In addition, the temporal stability of the ECR-R has not yet been assessed using repeated measures survey data. The present study therefore seeks to provide confirmatory analyses exploring these previously unexamined psychometric properties of the ECR-R.
Section snippets
Participants
Participants were students enrolled in an undergraduate psychology course who received partial course credit for participation. Data was collected from 197 participants at time 1 and 199 participants at time 2. One hundred and forty-two people (37 male, 104 female, one unreported) with a mean age of 21.78 years (S.D.=5.71) participated during both time periods. There were no significant differences in anxiety or avoidance between people who completed the survey during only the first time period
Factor analyses
A principal components exploratory factor analysis with varimax rotation was performed on the ECR-R data collected during time 1. Two factors were extracted, which explained 51% of the total variance. Although a number of factors with eigenvalues greater than 1 were reported, a two factor solution appeared to be the most parsimonious given that the eigenvalues displayed a steeply decreasing trend after the second value, i.e. 9.798, 8.562, 2.795, 2.223, 2.080. The rotated factor loadings for
Discussion
The factor structure, internal reliability and short-term temporal stability of the ECR-R were assessed. Separate exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses performed on the data collected at time 1 and time 2 indicated that the ECR-R displayed a clear two factor structure, and provided reliable and replicable measures of both the attachment anxiety and avoidance subscales. These results provide important additional information on the psychometric properties of the ECR-R, and suggest that the
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Joseph E. Oliver and Dr. Ronald Fischer for advice with statistical analyses.
References (32)
- et al.
On the instability of attachment style ratings
Personal Relationships
(1995) - et al.
Social-cognitive conceptualizations of attachment working modelsavailability and accessibility effects
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
(1996) - et al.
Attachment styles among young adultsa test of a four-category model
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
(1991) Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment
(1969)Attachment and loss: Vol. 2. Separation: anxiety and anger
(1973)Attachment and loss: Vol. 3. Loss: sadness and depression
(1980)- et al.
Self-report measurement of adult attachment: an integrative overview
- et al.
Adult attachment, working models, and relationship quality in dating couples
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
(1990) - et al.
Stability of attachment representationsthe transition to marriage
Developmental Psychology
(2002) - et al.
Why does attachment style change?
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
(1997)
Attachment style, communication and satisfaction in the early years of marriage
Assessing adult attachment
Attachment stability from infancy to adulthoodmeta-analysis and dynamic modeling of developmental mechanisms
Personality and Social Psychology Review
Adult attachment patterns: a test of the typological model
An item response theory analysis of self-report measures of adult attachment
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Attachment style in married couplesrelation to current marital functioning, stability over time, and method of assessment
Personal Relationships
Cited by (188)
Exploring screening for borderline personality disorder in pediatric inpatients with psychiatric Illness
2022, Psychiatry ResearchCitation Excerpt :Attachment dimensions were captured with the Experiences in Close Relationships- Revised - General Short Form (ECR-R; Wilkinson, 2011) which has shown to be a psychometrically valid and reliable tool for assessing general attachment in adolescents. The ECR-R has been demonstrated to have robust internal consistency (Fraley, Waller & Brennan, 2002) and test-retest reliability (Sibley and Liu, 2004). Symptoms of distress and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), problematic use of electronic devices use and individual questions on suicide, trauma and school suspensions were captured with measures and items used in the Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey (OSDUHS; Boak et al., 2018; Centre for Addiction and Mental Health 2019).
Childhood maltreatment and the quality of marital relationships: Examining mediating pathways and gender differences
2024, Journal of Social and Personal RelationshipsEnhancing EEG-based attachment style prediction: unveiling the impact of feature domains
2024, Frontiers in PsychologyAttachment style and interpersonal distance during the COVID-19 Pandemic
2024, Current Psychology