Assessment of Implicit Attachment-Related Knowledge: Investigating Context Invariance in Word-Prompted Narrative-Based Attachment Script Assessment in Adults

Attachment scripts emerge from early experiences with caregivers and comprise implicit expectations about others' availability in times of difficulty. Their assessment relies on narrative production, conventionally in interview settings, using word prompts to activate this implicit knowledge. As detecting attachment scripts without an interview would add flexibility to attachment assessment, we investigated audio-recording and typing as alternative modalities. Participants (<i>N</i> = 156) produced narratives in a conventional interview setting (interview modality, 2 storylines), orally (audio-recording modality, 2 storylines), and by typing (text modality, 2 storylines), and filled in coping (Brief-COPE) and personality (Mini-IPIP) measures. Narratives were transcribed and scored for richness of attachment-related content. The three modalities did not substantially differ regarding the produced narratives' length or attachment-related content. The narratives from all storylines converged in a single factor, independent of modality. Attachment-related content in the interview modality marginally predicted <i>emotional support</i> coping. Higher scores in the personality disposition, intellect/imagination predicted longer narratives in the interview but not the audio-recording modality, indicating potential influence, in the interview modality, from participant characteristics. Together, our findings suggest that narrative production-based attachment script measurement may not uniquely require conventional interview settings and indicate the potential usefulness of alternative modalities that allow widespread attachment script assessment.