title: Validity of the School-age Assessment of Attachment for moderate-risk, rural early adolescents.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study provides evidence of validity of the School-age Assessment of Attachment (SAA) through longitudinal comparison with the Preschool Assessment of Attachment (PAA) and with concurrent attachment assessments and measures of risk and parenting. Determining which assessment had the greatest validity with this moderate-risk sample would be of benefit to those working with troubled young people and their families.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Children's SAA classifications were expected to correspond to their PAA, a behavioral attachment assessment, parenting, and risk. An attachment questionnaire was predicted to not accurately indicate children's risk status.
  
  
  METHODS
  The design was an 8-year longitudinal follow-up of rural Appalachian American preschoolers.
  
  
  METHODS
  The participants were 21 children and their caregivers. The PAA was completed at age 4. The SAA, a self-report questionnaire, and a parent-child conflict resolution task were completed at age 12. Parents completed assessments of depression, trauma, stress, and perceptions of helplessness.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The PAA was related to the SAA and the dyadic behavioral task. The SAA was consistently associated with measures of parenting and family risk. The attachment questionnaire performed poorly for children with higher risk status, suggesting more (not less) sensitive and responsive parenting.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Morehead State University, USA s.kidwell@moreheadstate.edu.
authors.forename: Shari L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Kidwell
authors.affiliation: University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA.
authors.forename: Kayla M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Sizemore
authors.affiliation: The University of North Carolina, Greensboro, USA.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.affiliation: Kentucky River Community Care, USA.
authors.forename: Katelyn M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Fugate
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Morehead State University, USA.
authors.forename: Michelle S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Deaton
authors.affiliation: Ball State University, USA.
authors.forename: Morgan D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Blevins
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009769:Object Attachment; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011581:Psychological Tests; D000067073:Psychological Trauma / Q000523:psychology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012424:Rural Population; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Attachment; Dynamic-Maturational Model of Attachment and Adaptation (DMM); School-age Assessment of Attachment (SAA); adolescent; school age