ATTACHMENT QUESTIONNAIRE FOR CHILDREN (AQC)

The Attachment Questionnaire for Children (AQC) is a scale that can be applied to all attachment figures.
It was developed by Carol George and Malcolm West in 2001 and is designed to assess children’s
attachment to al significant figures in their lives, including parents, siblings, and other caregivers.

The AQC consists of 23 items that measure three dimensions of attachment which are proximity seeking,
safe haven, and secure base. Each item is related on 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1(strongly
disagree) to 5(strongly agree). This scale has been shown to have goo psychometric properties including
high internal consistency, test-retest reliability and validity.

POPULATION

AQC was developed ton assess attachment styles in children between the age of 5-12 years old. But, this
scale has also been used with adolescents and adults in many studies with modification of wordings to
make it appropriate for their age.

This scale assess child’s attachment to significant figures in their lives and also identify children who are
at risk for attachment difficulties.

The reliability and validity of AQC have been extensively studied and established in research.

RELIABILITY

This scale has been found to have high internal consistency, with Cronbach’s alpha coefficient ranging
from 0.87 to 0.94 across various studies. The test-retest reliability of this test has found to be very good
with correlation coefficient ranging from 0.63 to 0.94 over three to six-month period.

VALIDITY

This scale has found to be very valid, meaning that it measures what it is intended to measure. Studies
have shown that that children’s scores on AQC are predictive of their social and emotional development
including academic achievement, social competence and behavior problems. In addition, this scale has
found to have good criterion validity which means that it is able to distinguish between children with
secure versus insecure attachment styles.