The Adult Attachment Interview

The Adult Attachment Interview has been an important contribution to modern attachment study. General information about the AAI is available in our On-line Articles section. See especially the article by Crowell & Treboux. Information about the AAI interview questions and administration procedures in the Measurement Library. This information should be useful to those who want to better understand published research that reports AAI data.

Proper administration and scoring of the AAI requires extensive training. Although the Stony Brook Attachment Research Lab has published a substantial amount of research validating and using the AAI, we do not regularly train researchers from other labs. At our request, Dr. June Sroufe provides the following description of the training procedures, costs, etc. Please address all inquiries about such training to Dr. Sroufe or one of the other trainers identified below.

Learning to Score the Adult Attachment Interview
by Dr. June Sroufe.

Learning to score and code the Adult Attachment Interview begins with a two-week intensive training institute. As important background, the institute starts with a brief summary of Bowlby¹s original attachment theory, a description of the Infant Attachment categories of Mary Ainsworth (including the Strange Situation Procedure), and the subsequent links to adult attachment theory and the Adult Attachment Interview. Following this preliminary review, the bulk of the training is focussed on the AAI scoring and coding system developed by Mary Main and Ruth Goldwyn, AAI transcripts are both studied and scored by trainees outside of class and also carefully reviewed during class time. Less formal discussion of research and clinical questions that arise during the training is scheduled and conducted as needed. Upon completion of the course, trainees are given several booklets to take with them for continued study and practice in preparation for certification testing. The certification process takes an additional 18 months and consists of three tests taken at 6-month intervals. Each test is a set of about ten transcripts to be coded.

The cost is on the order of $1700 (or more, depending on the number of teachers and special circumstances) plus approximately $600 for a mandatory reliability test completed after returning from the formal training.

Certified trainers:
Dr. June Sroufe at: jsroufe@visi.com (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Dr. David Pederson at: pederson@uwo.ca (London, Ontario)
Dr. Deborah Jacobvitz at: debj@mail.utexas.edu (Austin, Texas)
Dr. Sonia Gojman at: sgojman@yahoo.com (Mexico City)
Dr. Nino Dazzi at: dazzi@uniroma1.it (Rome, Italy)
Dr. Nancy Kaplan at: nancy_kaplan@hotmail.com (Berkeley)
Dr. Anders G. Broberg, at: Anders.Broberg@psy.gu.se (Göteborg, Sweden)
Dr. Tord Ivarsson at Tord.Ivarsson@r-bup.no (Oslo, Norway)

Dr.s Mary Main and Erik Hesse at fax #: 510-642-4137 or 5293

 

This is not necessarily a comprehensive listing. Information about other training opportunities this year contact Mary Main, Dept. Psychology, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720.

 

For information about forthcoming AAI Training Institutes, see link on Home page.

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