title: Experiences in Close Relationships – Psychometric properties among patients with personality disorders.
abstract: Patients with personality disorders represent maladaptive attachment strategies, influencing the quality of their interpersonal relationships. Within these patient populations, it is important to have a measure, easily applied, to assess such strategies. A widely used instrument is Experiences in Close Relationships (ECR), assessing two constructs called avoidance and anxiety. Lately, two short forms of ECR have been proposed, called ECR-S and ECR-N12. The aim of this study is to investigate the psychometric properties of the Norwegian @version of ECR and its two short forms in a sample of patients with mainly personality disorders. An internal consistency and confirmatory factor analysis of ECR, ECR-S and ECR-N12 from 495 patients was conducted, as well as an exploratory factor analysis of ECR. The internal consistency of ECR was found questionable. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed a poor model fit based on ECR and ECR-S. The ECR-N12 revealed a mediocre fit, indicating a potential for improvement. Exploratory factor analysis indicated two different aspects of avoidance and three aspects of anxiety. This five-factor solution was called ECR-FF. Inferences from scores based on ECR should be derived with care. A revision of ECR and ECR-N12 is warranted, and further studies are needed to investigate the validity of ECR-FF.
authors.affiliation: Department of Personality Psychiatry, Clinic of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Geir
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.affiliation: Department for Group Psychotherapy, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Vestfold Hospital Trust, Tønsberg, Norway.
authors.forename: Ingeborg
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Eikenæs
authors.affiliation: Department of Personality Psychiatry, Clinic of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Øyvind
authors.initials: Ø
authors.lastname: Urnes
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Innlandet Hospital Trust, Elverum, Norway.
authors.forename: Guro Mikaelsen
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Skulberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Research and Development, Clinic of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Theresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wilberg
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000150:complications; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009769:Object Attachment; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires