The Adult Scale Of Parental Attachment-Short Form: Item Selection, Factor Structure, And Psychometric Properties

The purpose of this study was to examine if an abbreviated version of the Adult Scale of Parental Attachment (ASPA; Snow, Sullivan, Martin, & Helm, 2005) could be developed with an emphasis on the instrument's item selection, factor structure, and psychometric properties. The ASPA, building upon attachment theory, is a self-report measure that assesses individuals' patterns of relating based on their relationships with both mother and father figures in childhood. Utilizing the conceptual underpinnings of Classical Test Theory and factor analysis, a 40-item version of the ASPA (called the ASPA-SF) was created from 1,075 archived responses through a test construction and test tryout. Building upon this procedure, the substantiation of the ASPA-SF was established through confirmatory factor analysis and validity to the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI; Parker, Tupling, & Brown, 1979) with a separate group of 250 archived responses. Lastly, the theory of the instrument was tested on a population of 222 prison participants to evaluate the factor structure and psychometric properties. While the reliability of the instrument was maintained, the validity of the ASPA-SF could not be verified in working with a prison population. Due to the 84-item length of the original ASPA, the study was significant as an abbreviated version of the ASPA has the potential to save time for both the participant and administrator, and contribute to counseling research literature on patterns of relating.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D. in Counselor Education

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Leadership and Counselor Education

Year dc:date.available

2014

Author dc:creator

• Michael, Anthony Aron

Contributors dc:contributor

• Marilyn S. Snow
• Amanda Winburn
• Tabitha Young

• Attachment Theory
• Instrument Development
• Parental Influence
• Patterns Of Relating
• Personality
• Self-Report
• Counseling Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/462

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:egrove.olemiss.edu:etd-1461