ADULT ATTACHMENT SCALE (AAS)

Collins and Read, 1990

Adapted by Tacon & Caldera (2001)

Age: ___________________Sex: Male (__________) Female (_______) Civil status: _________

Please read each sentence and select the option in the left column that best describes how you
characterize your feelings by circling it.

1 2 3 4 5
Not something Very
Uncharacteristic Neutral
characteristic characteristic characteristic

1 It's hard for me to depend on other people 1 2 3 4 5

2 People are never there when I need them 1 2 3 4 5
3 I feel good depending on others 1 2 3 4 5
4 I know other people will be there when I need them. 1 2 3 4 5
5 It is difficult for me to completely trust other people 1 2 3 4 5
6 I'm not sure I can always count on others when I need them. 1 2 3 4 5
7 I'm not too worried about being abandoned 1 2 3 4 5
8 I often worry that my partner doesn't really love me. 1 2 3 4 5
9 Sometimes it seems to me that other people don't like to get close to me as 1 2 3 4 5
much as I would like to get close to myself.
10 I often worry about whether my partner will want to stay with me. 1 2 3 4 5
11 I would like to get involved with someone 1 2 3 4 5
12 1 2 3 4 5
My desire to fully engage with people sometimes pushes them away from me.
13 It is relatively easy for me to approach others 1 2 3 4 5
14 I generally don't worry about someone getting too close to me. 1 2 3 4 5
15 In one way or another it makes me uncomfortable to be around others. 1 2 3 4 5
16 I feel nervous when someone gets too close 1 2 3 4 5
17 I feel comfortable having someone else depending on me 1 2 3 4 5
18 1 2 3 4 5
My partners often ask me to be more intimate than I feel comfortable with.
Adult Attachment Scale (AAS)

The Adult Attachment Scale was created by Collins and Read (1990) according to Hazan
and Shaver's criteria, which defines adult attachment styles functionally equivalent to the
three types of early childhood attachment. Instrument that was adapted by Tacon and
Caldera (2001) in a sample of young Mexicans. Which is made up of 18 items and divided
into three subscales or dimensions: Dependency (degree to which one can trust and depend
on others), Anxiety (fear of being abandoned and not loved) and Intimacy (degree to which
a person feels comfortable with closeness and intimacy), with five Likert-type scale
response options:

1 = Not characteristic
2 = Uncharacteristic
3 = Neutral
4 = Something characteristic
5 = Very characteristic

The dependence dimension is made up of the items: 1*, 2*, 3, 4, 5*, 6*. The second anxiety
dimension includes the items: 7*, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. Finally, the third intimacy dimension
groups the items: 13, 14, 15*, 16, 17, 18*. Those marked with an asterisk are invested based
on the value of the options, which are five.

When the scores of the dependency and intimacy dimensions are higher than the scores of
the anxiety dimension, we speak of a secure attachment style; When the scores of the three
dimensions are lower, we speak of an avoidant attachment style, and finally when the scores
of the anxiety dimension are higher than the scores of the dependency and intimacy
dimensions, we speak of an attachment style. anxious ambivalent.

Tacón and Caldera (2001) obtained an internal reliability or alpha of 0.75 in the
“dependency” dimension, 0.72 in the “anxiety” dimension and 0.69 in the “intimacy”
dimension.