The Adult Attachment Interview was developed and designed by Mary Main and co-workers to measure individual differences in representations of attachment figures in adults. Four patterns of attachment experience are covered in narratives: dismissing (rejected or neglected by parents during childhood; predictive of anxious-avoidant infant attachments), autonomous (supportive parents and a strong value placed on attachment; predictive of secure infant attachments), preoccupied (reversal of caregiving roles during childhood; predictive of anxious-resistant attachments), and unresolved (feel responsible for some loss or trauma suffered during childhood, and still grieving). The AAI not only probes past experiences, but also current thoughts and feelings about attachment. All told, the AII is meant to provide a measure of effective parenting, with wide-ranging implications for how the changing family is studied and possibly counselled or treated.