Adult Attachment Measures and Their Potential Utility in Custody Cases

Abstract

There is little consensus concerning assessment methods in child custody evaluations, and a lack of a theoretically-informed empirical framework to guide the custody evaluation process. Recently, attachment theory has been proposed as a possible unifying framework for assessing the parent–child relationship as part of custody determinations, due to the theory's rich empirical support. But while the child's attachment to his/her caretaker has begun to be incorporated into custody evaluations, the question of the parents' adult attachment status has so far been neglected as a potentially relevant area for gathering information regarding parenting. This review of the literature discusses the potential utility of assessing adult attachment as part of custody evaluations, and focuses on three measures as relevant sources of information: the Adult Attachment Interview, Adult Attachment Projective, and Attachment Scripts. A call is made for forensic science to incorporate adult attachment research and literature into custody evaluations, and suggestions are made for future research.