Introduction
The Adult Attachment Prototype Ratings (AAPR) framework provides behavioral health professionals with a rigorous, comprehensive method for understanding individual relationship dynamics and internal working models. Kim Bartholomew and Leonard M. Horowitz first published this foundational assessment instrument in 1991, allowing investigators to capture nuanced variations in personality and interpersonal functioning. With over 17,700 citations in prominent scientific literature, the AAPR has established itself as a widely recognized benchmark in relational psychology and psychiatric research.
This article delves into the AAPR‘s core features, practical applications, and psychometric validation parameters. Furthermore, it aims to provide clinical researchers and practitioners with actionable insights for enhancing attachment assessment and tailoring personality-focused study designs.
Key Features of the Adult Attachment Prototype Ratings (AAPR)
Purpose and Use
The primary purpose of the AAPR is to assess adult attachment patterns in close interpersonal relationships. It achieves this objective by rating the precise degree to which an individual corresponds to four adult attachment prototypes: secure, dismissing, preoccupied, and fearful. By utilizing the AAPR, researchers can effectively explore internal working models of the self and others. Ultimately, this leads to a more nuanced understanding of personality dynamics and adult interpersonal functioning. The methodology provides crucial insights into how early attachment history shapes adult social interactions and psychological coping mechanisms.
Target Population
The AAPR targets adult populations aged 18 and older who require deep assessment of their relational styles. Specifically, it applies to:
- Young adults (18–24 years)
- Middle-aged adults (25–44 years)
- Older adults (45–64 years)
- Seniors (65+ years)
While the original development sample consisted mainly of college-aged young adults, subsequent clinical validation studies have expanded its use to psychotherapy-related adult populations.
Structure
Unlike traditional fixed-item inventories, the AAPR utilizes an open-ended, semi-structured interview procedure. Consequently, it relies on a dynamic narrative flow rather than a static list of questions. During the session, participants provide rich, descriptive accounts of their social history. The interview explicitly covers several key domains:
- Friendships
- Romantic relationships
- The importance of close relationships
- Loneliness
- Shyness
- Trust in others
- Perceived evaluation by others
- Hopes for changes in their social life
Following the interview, trained raters interpret and score these narrative responses to determine how closely the participant matches the four distinct structural prototypes.
Scoring Method
Trained raters score the Adult Attachment Prototype Ratings after completing the semi-structured interview. They evaluate each participant on four separate 9-point scales. These scales reflect the degree to which the participant matches each of the four adult attachment prototypes:
- Secure
- Dismissing
- Preoccupied
- Fearful
To calculate the final scores, researchers average the ratings from different raters. Researchers can then use this data in two distinct ways:
- The highest average prototype rating is used to assign the best-fitting attachment category.
- The four prototype ratings may also be analyzed continuously.
Important Note: The related self-report Relationship Questionnaire (RQ) uses four prototype descriptions that respondents rate on a 7-point scale. However, this questionnaire represents a separate self-report format, and researchers should not treat it as the primary scoring method of the interview-based Adult Attachment Prototype Ratings.
Administration Format
Because the framework requires open-ended clinical deep-diving, it demands specialized expertise to execute and interpret effectively. Evaluators administer the instrument through a single, specialized modality:
- In-person structured interviews
The comprehensive dialogue requires approximately 60 minutes to complete, which maximizes qualitative data collection during clinical research trials.
Application of the Adult Attachment Prototype Ratings (AAPR)
The AAPR possesses targeted clinical utility and serves an explicit function in psychological evaluation:
- Research: The measure functions primarily as a deployment tool for research on adult attachment, internal working models of self and others, personality, and interpersonal functioning.
Languages and availability
The original development article validates the tool across several key international regions:
The AAPR is a free, open-access framework available to the scientific community for personal, educational, and non-for-profit research. Clinicians and researchers can access the core structural paradigm and interview instructions through original academic repositories without licensing fees.
Reliability and Validity
Psychometric evaluations indicate that the AAPR is a highly reliable and valid tool for behavioral science research. In the initial development validation studies, the system achieved exceptional inter-rater consistency metrics across distinct environments. Specifically, Study 1 yielded outstanding reliability coefficients for the four interview-based prototype ratings, ranging from 0.87 to 0.95.
Furthermore, Study 2 confirmed robust systemic integrity, showing family attachment rating reliabilities between 0.75 and 0.86, alongside peer attachment rating reliabilities ranging from 0.74 to 0.88. The initial development article established structural construct validity through multidimensional scaling, convergent profiles across peer reports, and theoretically consistent correlations with general interpersonal-problem dimensions.
Validation evidence comes from diverse contexts, including:
- The original validation study link.
- Validation of the German version study link.
- Validation of the Spanish version study link.
Limitations and Considerations
Despite its strengths, the AAPR has a few limitations:
- Complexity: The instrument requires a semi-structured interview administration and specialized expertise, making it difficult to execute rapidly.
- Length: The extensive 60-minute conversational requirement makes it less suitable for quick clinical screening or high-volume studies.
- Scoring Complexity: Converting open-ended responses into objective numbers requires highly trained raters to achieve optimal inter-rater reliability.
- Cultural Bias: Interpretations of independence and relational closeness may vary across global sub-populations, necessitating careful cross-cultural adaptation.
- Language Barriers: Validated translations remain limited to a few dominant languages, which restricts broader international data collection without independent validation.
Other Versions And Related Questionnaires
The original development literature notes a distinct self-report spin-off tool based on the same conceptual model:
- Relationship Questionnaire (RQ): A separate self-report format consisting of four prototype descriptions rated on a 7-point scale.
Additionally, researchers often integrate the AAPR alongside other recognized attachment and personality indices:
- AAI: Adult Attachment Interview
- RSQ: Relationship Scales Questionnaire
- ECR-R: Experiences in Close Relationships–Revised
Additional Resources
- The original validation study link.
- For inquiries, contact Kim Bartholomew, the first author of the framework, at bartholo@sfu.ca.
- Phone: (778) 782-3354
- Institution: Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University
- Address: 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- Who can use the AAPR?
Trained researchers and psychological health experts use the AAPR for adult populations (aged 18 and older) to assess complex close interpersonal relationships and attachment patterns. - How long does it take to complete the AAPR?
The semi-structured interview phase typically requires approximately 60 minutes to complete, followed by specialized evaluation by trained raters. - How is the AAPR administered?
Healthcare teams and investigators administer the assessment solely via an interactive, in-person interview format to record open-ended patient responses. - Is there any cost to using the AAPR?
The AAPR is entirely free for non-commercial research, academic, and educational use, provided investigators credit the original authors via appropriate citations.
A Word from ResRef about the Adult Attachment Prototype Ratings (AAPR)
The Adult Attachment Prototype Ratings is an interview-based adult attachment assessment approach that provides structured ratings of correspondence with four attachment prototypes: secure, dismissing, preoccupied, and fearful. Its strongest supported use is in research on adult attachment, close interpersonal relationships, personality, and interpersonal functioning. Because it requires semi-structured interview administration and trained rater-based scoring, it is less suitable for rapid screening than brief self-report adult attachment scales.
References
- Bartholomew, K., & Horowitz, L. M. (1991). Attachment styles among young adults: A test of a four-category model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61(2), 226–244. link.
- Kirchmann H, Fenner A, Strauss B. Konvergenz des Erwachsenen-Bindungsprototypen-Ratings (EBPR) mit verschiedenen Selbstbeschreibungsinstrumenten zur Erfassung von Bindungsmerkmalen [Convergence of the Adult Attachment Prototype Rating (AAPR) with different self assessment measures of attachment characteristics]. Psychother Psychosom Med Psychol. 2007 Aug;57(8):334-42. German. link.
- Martínez Guzmán, Claudio; Nuñez Medina, Carlos Entrevista de Prototipos de Apego Adulto (EPAA): Propiedades Psicométricas de su Versión en Chile Interamerican Journal of Psychology, vol. 41, núm. 3, 2007, pp. 261-274 Sociedad Interamericana de Psicología Austin, Organismo Internacional. link.
