ABSTRACT
Since the publication of the “love quiz,” numerous self-report measures have been developed in an effort to measure adult romantic love. Continuous rating scales such as the Adult Attachment Questionnaire (AAQ) and the Adult Attachment Scale (AAS) were developed. The Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ) was yet another self-report measure that emerged on the scene. The AAQ, AAS, and ASQ were all based on a three-category model of attachment. Social psychologists, such as Cindy Hazan and Phillip Shaver, utilized John Bowlby’s and Ainsworth’s theories to study romantic attachments and developed self-report measures based on these theories. Though self-report measures can yield discrete attachment categories such as secure, avoidant, or anxious, most researchers who use these measures ascribe to a dimensional approach and understand adult attachment patterns as occurring along continuums. As opposed to the Adult Attachment Interview which assesses states of mind with regards to attachment, the self-report tradition generally measures individual dispositions that result from varying attachment histories.
