Content validity and reliability of the adult attachment interview in a sample of Moroccan young adults

Abstract

The aim of this study was to adapt and validate the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), relying on content validity of the AAI, using discourse analysis and test-retest reliability as proposed in the literature. We hypothesized that participants with the same attachment style would use similar semantic systems, and that people who belong to different categories of attachment would use divergent semantic systems. Overall, 20 participants volunteered to take part in this research. The interviews were transcripted, coded and classified following the AAI protocol instructions, relying on the classification and coding system manual. We created a textual corpus composed of the interview transcripts. Each interview was analyzed manually. Of the 20 interviews, 35% were classified as secure attachment style, 50% a dismissing style, 15% and a preoccupied style. The reliability of the AAI classifications was quite high (75%).Results confirmed the relationship between attachment category and representations, In particular, the secure participants tend to be metacognitive, distinguished by a coherent mind and transcript, while dismissive participants exhibited to idealization, passivity of thought and inability to recall, and preoccupied participants prone to an incoherence of mind and transcript, due to their indulgence in talking about the memories of the past, which are still present with all their emotional charge.