Use of the adult attachment projective picture system in an assessment of an adolescent in foster care

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal of Personality Assessment

ISSN

0022-3891

Volume

93

Issue

5

DOI

10.1080/00223891.2011.594127

First Page

417

Last Page

426

Publication Date

1-1-2011

Abstract

Child maltreatment has been associated with a host of negative outcomes including impaired social relationships (Rogosch, Cicchetti, Aber, 1995), depression (Toth, Manly, Cicchetti, 1992), poor self-concept and motivation (Vondra, Barnett, Cicchetti, 1990), and delinquency and conduct problems (Cook etal., 2005; Grotevant etal., 2006; McCabe, Lucchini, Hough, Yeh, Hazen, 2005; Ryan Testa, 2005). An assessment of the mental representation of attachment relationships could offer additional relevant and useful information to the evaluation of youth in foster care, and could inform treatment and placement considerations. The Adult Attachment Projective Picture System (AAP) is a relatively new measure of internal representations of attachment based on the analysis of a set of stimuli designed to systematically activate the attachment system (George, West, Pettem, 1997). This article considers the use of the AAP with a maltreated adolescent in a clinical setting and uses a case study to illustrate the components of the AAP that are particularly relevant to case conceptualization and interventions. Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

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