Department

Counseling and Human Services

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Date of Award

8-2017

Degree Level

Ph.D.

LCSH subject

Attachment behavior--Testing

ISBN

9780355797183

Proquest Document ID

2027801379

Identifier

ETD2017Valdez

School/University

St. Mary's University

Size or duration

ix, 96 pages

Document Type

Dissertation

First Advisor

Ratliff, Dan

Second Advisor

Flores, Maria T.

Third Advisor

Northrup, Jason

Abstract

Research on attachment in adult relationships has included minimal studies to encompass a Hispanic population. Mexican Americans have specific characteristics grounded in historical, demographic, and family contexts which are different from other groups. Therefore, cross-cultural validation of instruments to assess family relationships increases the clinical usefulness of the instruments. The purpose of this study was to compare the equivalence of the factor structure of a widely used family attachment assessment, the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised Structures Questionnaire (ECR-RS; Donbaek & Elklit, 2014; Parker et al., 2011). This study used principal components factor analysis with maximum likelihood extraction to compare the consistency of factors of the ECR-RS between Hispanic and non-Hispanic students. Maximum likelihood extraction provides a test of goodness of fit between groups for a two-factor solution as found in the ECR-RS validation studies (Donbaek & Elklit, 2014; Parker et al., 2011). Results showed that the two-factor solution fits the data for both the Hispanic and non-Hispanic populations, with exception of one factor, the best friend relationship domain. The results from this study indicates that the ECR-RS measures equivalent factors in both cultural groups, evidence for a cross-cultural validation of this instrument.

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