Abstract
The aim of the current study was to explore the role clinical psychology trainee and supervisor attachment patterns play in the development of the Supervisory Working Alliance (SWA). Trainees and their supervisors from the University of Surrey, University of East London, University Collage London and Salmons Canterbury University were invited to participate. A final sample of 46 matched trainee-supervisor dyads participated in the study. They completed the Working Alliance Inventory trainee or supervisor version (WAI: Bahrick, 1990) measuring supervisory goals, tasks and bond; and the Experience in Close Relationships-Revised Questionnaire (ECR-R: Fraley et al., 2000) measuring attachment anxiety and avoidance. Trainee and supervisor anxiety was found to be significantly negatively related and predictive of their own rating of the supervisory bond and goals respectively. Trainee anxiety was also found to moderate the relationship between supervisor anxiety and supervisors’ rating of supervision goals, partially demonstrating the impact of dyadic attachment combinations on the SWA. The predicted relationship between trainee and supervisor attachment avoidance and the SWA was not found. Additionally neither trainee nor supervisor attachment was found to directly predict their partner’s rating of the SWA. Taken together, the findings indicate that an individual’s own attachment anxiety may play a more significant role in their perception of the SWA than their attachment avoidance or their supervisory partner’s attachment pattern. However, not all aspects of the SWA were found to be related to attachment, suggesting that attachment may not be as strongly related to the development of the SWA as previously anticipated.