that was used for comparison. It is difficult to draw firm conclusions about how this
finding sits alongside evidence of normal levels of attachment security in infants and
children with HFA. One the one hand, secure attachment was not entirely absent in this
sample and was certainly present at a rate comparable with other clinical samples. On the
other hand, a far smaller proportion of the current participants was classified as secure,
compared to 53% of children with autism assessed in the Strange Situation (Rutgers et al.,
2004). This may either be due to participants’ autism per se or to the high rate of mood
disorders and other diagnoses within the sample, as mood disorder is known to be
associated with insecure and disorganised attachment. This question could be clarified by
further research among adults with HFA who do not have other clinical difficulties,
although these people may be the exception rather than the rule. It is worth noting here
that all but one of the eight participants categorised as “unresolved” or “cannot classify”
had current mood disorder. Given the underlying question about the validity of using the
AAI with this sample, it is also possible that the AAI did not activate attachment
representations in all participants, although as a group they appeared to respond differently
to the AAI than to the parallel interview. This could be explored by the parallel use of
other adult attachment measures, as discussed below.
There is some evidence that participants’ responses to the AAI were influenced by
their general discourse style, as shown by the correlations in scale scores across the AAI
and the parallel interview. That is, anger, passivity and lack of memory appeared to be
characteristics of the speakers rather than specifically reflecting state of mind with respect
to attachment. However, other characteristics of participants’ discourse did vary across
interviews, including both of the coherence scores which are strongly associated with
overall attachment security. This suggests that aspects of their response to the AAI are
influenced by their distinctive narrative styles, probably associated with their autism, but
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