PPT Slide
66 couples assessed three months prior to marriage and 18 months after marriage
- Mean age before marriage: 23 years for women, 25 years for men
- 98% white, middle SES community sample
- No previous marriages, no children
- Only 20% lived with partners prior to marriage
The Adult Attachment Interview, (AAI; George, Main, & Kaplan, 1985)
The AAI was designed to provide information about an adult’s mental representations based on secure base experiences with parents in childhood. We used the coherence score (1-9 point scale) as a rating of security (Fyffe, 1995; Main & Goldwyn, 1994).
Coherence: The ability to provide a unified, believable, collaborative, free-flowing account of attachment experiences with their parents, and the influence of experience on their development. Agreement between coders, r= .66, p< .001.