Mental representations of attachment among prospective Australian fathers

Radojevic Research into security or otherwise of infant attachment and its correlates is well established. Research into adult internal representations of attachment is still in its infancy. This emergent area of investigation is facilitated by a new measurement instrument, the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). This paper presents the first Australian report of the distribution of adult attachment classifications in a group of 62 men, prior to the transition to parenthood. Using the AAI, 35.4 % of these men were classified as secure. This proportion is congruent with those reported by other investigators. Validity of the AAI is discussed and some theoretical questions related to the findings are raised. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 1994; 28505-51 1 The idea that infants construct mental repre-sentations of their caretakers and of themselves in relation to those caretakers is central to most psychoanalytically-derived thinking, as is thc notion of a child’s development being profoundly influenced by the way a parent treats him or her. Bowlby [ 1] has noted that his formulations were derived as a variant of Object Relations theory. One of Bowlby’s many significant contributions was to separate the construct of attachment from the potentially derogatory concept of dependence [ 3 1. Bowlby [ 1] considered attachment behaviour to be a phenomenon characteristic of the entire lifespan. I t is defined as behaviour displayed by an attached in-dividual which aims to increase proximity to a preferred person in times of need and thus to promote a sense of felt security [ 1,2]. Ainsworth and her colleagues opcrationalised the construct by developing the Strange Situation Proce-dure to measure infant attachment 131. In this stand-ardised laboratory procedure lasting about 20 minutes