In Couple and Family Assessment, which instrument is used to evaluate adult romantic attachment?

• A. Dyadic Adjustment Scale
• B. MSI-R
• C. Genograms
• D. Adult Attachment Interview

Answer: (D)

The main idea here is how to assess how adults represent attachment in their romantic relationships. The instrument designed for this purpose is the Adult Attachment Interview, a semi-structured interview that invites adults to talk about their early caregiving experiences and their current views on those relationships. The value lies in evaluating the person’s state of mind about attachment—how coherently and insightfully they discuss their childhood bonds, how they balance positives and negatives, and how unresolved trauma is integrated into their narrative. This focus on attachment representations distinguishes it from measures that just look at current relationship quality.

Other tools in the list assess relationship functioning in different ways but not the underlying attachment representations. The Dyadic Adjustment Scale and MSI-R gauge relationship satisfaction and functioning, not the person’s attachment-related narratives. Genograms map family structure and patterns, but they don’t directly measure adult attachment representations. Because the Adult Attachment Interview targets the adult’s internal working models of attachment and provides a narrative-based state-of-mind classification, it best fits the goal of evaluating adult romantic attachment.