More bridges: Investigating the relevance of self-report and interview measures of adult attachment for marital and caregiving relationships

Abstract

The aim of this report was to investigate the associations between attachment state of mind, romantic attachment style, and indices of maternal functioning in two relational spheres: the mother—child relationship (i.e., maternal sensitivity and child attachment security) and the marital relationship (i.e., mothers’ and their partners’ marital satisfaction). The results, based on 59 families, indicated that attachment state of mind was associated with maternal sensitivity and with child attachment security, although not to mothers’ or their partners’ subjective feelings of marital satisfaction. In contrast, romantic attachment styles were related to both mothers’ and their partners’ marital satisfaction, although not to maternal sensitivity or child attachment. These findings add to the growing literature highlighting the unique value of each tradition of assessment in adult attachment research, by suggesting that variation in attachment security tapped by each measure may bear particular relevance for specific relationships.