Validity of attachment Q-sort descriptions by mothers: The Japanese case

Abstract

This paper aims to study the predictive validity of mothers' attachment Q-sort descriptions (AQS) for assessing attachment security in children in Japan. Attachment theory predicts that attachment quality will be related to quality of interaction with mother and peers. Forty-eight mothers of two-year-old children described their children using the AQS. In a play session with another mother-child dyad, child-mother interaction and peer interaction were observed. Neither of the predicted relations of attachment security, i.e., to child-mother interaction or to peer interaction, were found. It is argued that these findings indicate lack of validity of the mother AQS as method for the assessment of attachment security. © 1997 Japanese Psychological Association. Published by Blackwell Publishers Ltd.