Adapting Doll Completion Story Task to Adults in the Assessment of Secure Base Scripts: A Preliminary Study of Reliability and Validity

Abstract

Secure base scripts constitute an approach providing reliable and valid measures of mental representations of attachment. Doll Completion Story Task (DCST) is a common measure in literature, tapping into attachment-related secure base scripts in children. The purpose of the current research was to conduct a preliminary reliability and validity study of Adult-DCST. In the development phase, the protocol was applied to 40 healthy adults and 20 psychiatric inpatients, and “Adult-DCST Application and Scoring Manual” was formed according to the content examinations of Adult-DCST. Following, 20 participants were randomly selected from 60 participant-pool of Adult-DCST applications. Inter-rater reliability and validity examinations were conducted among randomly-selected 20 participants (nhealthy = 9; npsychiatricinnpatient = 11). Participants with the mean age of 22.15 filled out Relationship Scales Questionnaire (RSQ), Experiences in Close Relationships-R (ECR-R), and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES). Results indicated that inter-rater agreement for Reflective Functioning, Attachment, Anxiety and Avoidance dimensions of Adult-DCST were .83, .89, .79, and .83, respectively. Cronbach alpha internal consistency coefficients of mentioned dimensions ranged between .79 and .85. Also, there were significant relationships between Adult-DCST dimensions and sub-scales of RSQ and ECR-R, and total scores of RSES in the expected directions. Findings suggested that Adult-DCST was a reliable measure of secure base scripts.