ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 continues the progression towards older individuals, with a focus on adults and adolescents. Cognitive development has important implications for how a child conceptualises close relationships and for how psychological processes related to attachment must be assessed. The chapter introduces an important measure introduced by Main and colleagues, the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). The chapter describes the AAI and its different classifications, the importance of different memory systems for various types of responses, and the links between AAI classifications and adult caregivers’ sensitivity to their own infants. We also look at the experience of adults who show indications in the interview that they are struggling to process experiences of loss and trauma, which may be coded on the AAI with the “unresolved” classifications.
