The name is absent

• How are AAI responses of adults with autism related to their autistic
symptomatology, IQ and theory of mind?

Scores on the two AAI coherence scales, as well as reflective function scores, are strongly
related to overall attachment security (Fonagy et al., 1991; Roisman, Padron, Sroufe &
Egeland, 2002). This was the case in the present sample, with participants and controls
classified as secure tending to have higher scores on these scales. Therefore, any
relationship between participants’ scores on these continuous scales and other variables of
interest (ADOS, IQ and theory of mind) would suggest that these variables are influencing
the likelihood of participants being classified as secure. Spearman’s rho correlations are
reported in Table 5. Coherence of transcript is significantly negatively correlated with
ADOS communication score; no other correlations reach significance.
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Table 5 about here

Discussion

This study was an exploration of whether adults with autism would be able to
engage with the AAI enough to provide interviews that could be scored and classified. As
the participants were clearly able to do this, the more specific research questions allow us
to speculate about the meaning of their responses and attachment classifications.

Given that the participants were able to engage with the AAI, the first question
was how their responses would be classified and how this pattern compared to a sample
without autism. Three of the twenty participants were classified as secure; this is a lower
rate of security than is found in non-clinical samples, but does not differ significantly from
the clinical meta-analytic sample of van IJzendoorn and Bakermans-Kranenburg (1996)

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