The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA)

The IPPA is a self-report measure developed to assess adolescents’ perceptions of the positive and negative affective/cognitive dimension of relationships with their parents and close friends -- particularly how well these figures serve as sources of psychological security. The theoretical framework is attachment theory, originally formulated by Bowlby and expanded by others. Three broad dimensions are assessed: degree of mutual trust; quality of communication; and extent of anger and alienation. The development samples were 16 to 20 years of age. The instrument uses a five-point likert-scale response format.

The original IPPA (Armsden and Greenberg, 1987 Download) was revised in order to separately assess mother and father attachment and comprises 25 items in each of the mother, father, and peer sections, yielding three attachment scores. This revised version is the recommended one to employ, since mother and father attachment have been shown to relate differently to measures of well-being (Armsden, 1986). Use "IPPA", not "IPPA-R", to refer to the revised version.

Download the IPPA manual to review the IPPA's psychometric properties and a list of published studies using the IPPA from 1991 - 2023. Download

Use of IPPA scores

The IPPA is used internationally in both research and clinical contexts. Samples scores can be compared to published scores for nonclinical and clinical samples. However, because the instrument was developed as a research tool, clinical interpretations should be made very cautiously at the individual level since standardized scores are not available and classifications by attachment type was not established.

Copyright Note

The IPPA is copyrighted but the authors no longer require permission to use it.