Open AccessDevelopment of a brief, clinically relevant, scale for measuring attachment disorders
Author(s) -
Minnis Helen,
RabeHesketh Sophia,
Wolkind Stephen
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
international journal of methods in psychiatric research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.275
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1557-0657
pISSN - 1049-8931
DOI - 10.1002/mpr.127
Subject(s) - clinical psychology , psychology , neglect , sexual abuse , psychiatry , medicine , poison control , human factors and ergonomics , environmental health
Abstract A 17‐item questionnaire for reactive attachment disorders (RAD) was developed and administered to 182 Scottish children living in foster care. The RAD questionnaire had a good test‐retest reliability with an intra‐class correlation (ICC) of 0.78 and inter‐rater reliability with an ICC of 0.81. Cluster analysis showed that the children fell into three groups, two of which corresponded to the two reactive attachment disorder subtypes. High questionnaire scores for attachment disorders were significantly associated with conduct problems, emotional problems, hyperactivity and problems with peer relations and negatively associated with pro‐social behaviour. High overall questionnaire scores for reactive attachment disorder were associated with previous sexual abuse, whereas there was no association with previous physical abuse. High scores for the disinhibited subtype were associated with previous neglect. Copyright © 2002 Whurr Publishers Ltd.