title: The brief accessibility, responsiveness, and engagement (BARE) scale: a tool for measuring attachment behavior in couple relationships.
abstract: This article describes the purpose, reliability, validity, and potential clinical applications of the brief accessibility, responsiveness, and engagement (BARE) scale. In addition to focusing on the central attachment behaviors of accessibility and responsiveness, this instrument highlights the key role of engagement in couple bonding. The BARE is a short, systemic, self-report measure of attachment behaviors in couple relationships. Both classical testing theory and item response theory were used to test the psychometric properties of the instrument. The BARE demonstrated appropriate reliability and validity while maintaining its brevity and potential usefulness for clinicians and researchers. The BARE also accurately predicted the key relationship outcomes of stability and satisfaction. The data for this study were collected from the RELATE assessment (see www.relate-institute.org).
authors.affiliation: School of Family Life, Brigham Young University, 266 TLRBBYU, Provo, UT 84602, USA. jonathan_sandberg@byu.edu
authors.forename: Jonathan G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Sandberg
authors.forename: Dean M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Busby
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Keitaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshida
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009769:Object Attachment; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011594:Psychometrics; D057566:Self Report / Q000592:standards*; D012919:Social Behavior; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult