ASI for Psychologists and Psychiatrists

Introduction

The Attachment Style Interview for Research, Clinical and Practice (ASI-RCP) is an assessment tool which assesses characteristics of adults and young people in terms of their quality of close relationships, social support and security of attachment style. It is one of the few attachment style interviews which has a transparent method of questioning and scoring to assess both secure and insecure relating styles.

The ASI research interview has been used extensively in research studies to examine psycho-social risks for mental health problems, including major depression, anxiety and post natal depression. It has also been extensively used cross culturally and is translated into a number of languages including Japanese, French, German and Italian.

Its reliability and validity is established among researchers (including several cross cultural studies) and high levels of association are found with depression outcomes and social factors such as poor support, low self-esteem and early adverse childhood experience.

A training package is available for researchers and clinicians, which consists of a 3-day training workshop to enable the reliable use of the assessment tool. The training is run by Professor Antonia Bifulco at Royal Holloway, University of London and her team of researchers. Professor Bifulco is an experienced social scientist with 20 years' experience researching family life, parenting, neglect/abuse and support in relation to mental health. The other four co-trainers are all researchers with extensive experience of the ASI and with additional experience in evaluating services, assessing children and counselling and play therapist skills.

Day 1 - An overview of the ASI categories and rating procedures, the interview and rating system. Introduction to scoring quality of marital relationship, support and relating ability.

Day 2 - Intensive training in scoring quality of marital relationship, support and relating ability. This will be aided by video and audio-taped interviews and vignettes of adults' support-contexts. Introduction to assessing attachment style.

Day 3 - Intensive training in assessing attachment style in terms of secure and insecure styles and those enmeshed, fearful, dismissive and withdrawn. Trainees will acquire reliable scoring of interviews and vignettes.

The next scheduled RSI-RCP training takes place on 9-11 of November 2010 in Central London
Autumn 2010 ASI-RCP training: Tuesday 9th, Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th of November 2010 at Bedford Square, London WC1.

Spring 2011 ASI-RCP training: Wednesday 23rd, Thursday 24th and Friday 25th March 2011 at Bedford Square, London WC1.

Adolescent Attachment Style Interview (ASI-AD)

The ASI-AD has been used successfully on adolescent research samples. The interview is modified slightly to cover support from parent rather than partner together with Very Close Others who can be either peers (eg friends or siblings/cousins) or adult support figures. There is no specific adolescent training, but the ASI-RCP utilises an adolescent training interview to provoke discussion about lifestage issues and reporting style in adolescents.

The adolescent ASI-AD has been tested in a high risk intergenerational sample (n=146) studied by the Lifespan Research Group with Medical Research Council funding. This showed significant association between insecure attachment style and disorder. Specifically Enmeshed or Fearful styles related to internalising disorder (depression or anxiety) and these were related to neglect or abuse from mothers and negative evaluation of self (Bifulco, Moran, Jacobs, Bunn, & Schimmenti, submitted). Attachment style was unrelated to externalising disorder (substance abuse or conduct disorder) in this group. The presence of ‘clearly secure’ attachment style acted as protective factor against disorder (Bifulco, (in preparation).

The adolescent ASI-AD has also been used in a Portuguese series of teenage and adult pregnant women. This showed a relationship between insecure attachment and depression, particularly Enmeshed or Fearful styles (Figueirido, Bifulco, Pachecho, Costa, & Magarinho, 2006). These were significantly more common in the adolescent girls and accounted for the relationship between teenage pregnancy and disorder.

The adolescent ASI-AD is currently being used on providing assessments for young people in residential care prior to undergoing a social learning intervention, being run by St Christopher’s Fellowship (www.stchris.org.uk). The Specialist Homes Action Research Project (SHARP) seeks to intervene with young people with complex needs to modify aggressive and unsociable behaviour, through using an attachment-based approach. The interview is proving useful in identifying dual attachment styles in such young people, which helps to categorise the fearful and angry elements evident in their behaviour. Lifespan Research Group are involved in an action-research project where the interview assessments help to inform personalised elements of the social learning intervention.

References:

Bifulco, A., Moran, P., Jacobs, C., Bunn (2009). Problem partners and parenting: exploring linkages with maternal insecure attachment style and adolescent offspring internalizing disorder. Attachment and Human Development, 11(1):69-85

Bifulco, A. ((in preparation)). An intergenerational study of abuse among London young people: exploring resilience factors. In D. Brom, R. Pat-Horenczyk & J. Ford (Eds.), Treating traumatized children: Risk, resilience and recovery Routledge, London.

Bifulco, A., Moran, P., Jacobs, C., Bunn, A., & Schimmenti, A. (submitted). Insecure attachment style, childhood experience and disorder in high-risk young people.

Figueirido, B., Bifulco, A., Pachecho, A., Costa, R., & Magarinho, R. (2006). Teenage pregnancy, attachment style and depression: A comparison of teenage and adult pregnant women in a Portuguese series. Attachment and Human Development, 8(2), 123-128.

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