At a minimum we take this hypothesis to mean that the attachment system is active and important in both kinds of relationships. Further, we think it means that the quality of attachment in parent-child relationships is reflected in the quality of attachment in adult relationships.
Children develop attachment representations in the course of experiences with attachment figures.
The representation serves as a guide for behavior, thoughts and feelings in attachment related situations, first with parents, and later on in other relationships. As such they help explain how early experience can effect later relationship behavior. We use the Current Relationship Interview or CRI to assess the representation of adult secure base experiences. Previous work with this sample has shown that the AAI and CRI security scores are significantly correlated, and about two thirds of the individuals in our study have the same AAI and CRI classifications before marriage and also after 15 months of marriage. In this study we hypothesized that individuals who were secure in both representations would be the highest functioning overall, having positive reports of the relationship and effective secure base behavior in the relationship.