title: Reliability of self-reported attachment style in patients with severe psychopathology.
abstract: Little is known about whether severe psychopathology influences the assessment of self-reported attachment style. Fifty-eight randomly selected adult psychiatric inpatients completed the Experiences in Close Relationship questionnaire (ECR; Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998) and were administered the 24-item Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS; Ventura et al., 1993) and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS; Hamilton, 1960) at both admission and discharge. The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-I; First, Spitzer, Gibbon, & Williams, 1996) was used to establish Axis I diagnoses. The ECR scales showed good internal consistency and absolute stability both in patients with (n = 24) and without (n = 34) a psychotic disorder. Relative stability was only fair among patients with psychotic disorders but good among patients without psychotic disorders. Neither higher BPRS or HDRS scores, nor the presence of a psychotic disorder, significantly reduced the retest reliability of the ECR scales. These findings suggest that self-report measures might provide a reliable assessment of attachment style in patients with severe psychopathology, except for the most severely impaired patients.
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Unit, Center of Epidemiology, Surveillance and Health Promotion, Italian National Institute of Health, Rome, Italy. angelo.picardi@iss.it
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Picardi
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Martinotti
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paci
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Simi
authors.forename: Emanuele
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Caroppo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009769:Object Attachment; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D057566:Self Report; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires