title: Tests of the Attachment and Clinical Issues Questionnaire as It Applies to Alcohol Dependence.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although many major theories tie the addictions to specific pathways and neurochemical systems evolutionarily implicated in food and social behavioral systems, there is a paucity of instruments from the psychological level that can measure these important attachment, social, and emotional counterparts. Two studies were designed to examine whether the Attachment and Clinical Issues Questionnaire (ACIQ) could help fill this limitation in psychological measurement.
  
  
  METHODS
  In study 1, the ACIQ was given to patients in a substance abuse unit and control participants funneled to match from a larger population. To address the issue of their hypothesized tendency to blame everything on past experiences, study 2 tested whether the above results would be replicated with high school students predicted to develop alcohol dependence.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In study 1, on the patient population, significant differences were found on the attachment and clinical scales in predicted directions. In study 2, on the high school students, the central predictions were again confirmed with this different and larger population, but with interesting developmental differences.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The 2 studies using different populations and definitions of alcohol dependence converged on similar results. The ACIQ was found to be a robust battery for measuring attachment and clinical issues displayed by both patient populations and high school students only predicted to develop alcohol dependence. The results were further discussed in terms of how they move us toward Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) approaches to diagnosis and treatment, paying attention to important individual differences in attachments, and clinical issues.
authors.affiliation: From the Psychology Department, Marshall University, Huntington, WV.
authors.forename: Marc A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Lindberg
authors.forename: April
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fugett
authors.forename: Joshua E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Carter
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009034:Mother-Child Relations / Q000523:psychology*; D009769:Object Attachment; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000592:standards*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D055815:Young Adult