The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the reliability and validity of a complaints questionnaire, designed to measure different aspects of denture satisfaction. Two groups of patients with full maxillary and mandibular dentures participated in the study. The patients in Group 1 (n = 113) were on a waiting list for new dentures, patients in Group 2 (n = 102) had recently had new dentures fitted. Five denture complaint scales were constructed from the questionnaire. The internal consistency (coefficient alpha) of the scales varied from 0.65 to 0.92. Furthermore, the scales showed a discriminatory ability between the patient groups (P less than or equal to 0.001) and significant Pearson correlation coefficients with satisfaction-related questions (r = 0.25-0.79). The scores on the scales can be considered a quantitative measure of denture satisfaction.

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Attachment theory predicts that early experiences with caregivers affect the quality of individuals' later (romantic) relationships and, consequently, their mental health. The present study examined the role of intimacy in the current romantic relationship as a possible mediator of the relationship between adult attachment and psychological distress in a clinical and community sample. Results indicated that attachment security was positively, whereas attachment insecurity was negatively, related to intimacy in the current romantic relationship. Furthermore, security of attachment was negatively related to loneliness and depression and positively to satisfaction with life. The reverse held for attachment insecurity. Mediational analyses revealed that intimacy in the current relationship only partially mediated the relationship between attachment and psychological distress. Although near perfect mediation was found for fearful attachment in the clinical sample and for preoccupied attachment in the community sample, the findings with regard to the other attachment styles were less clear-cut. Apart from the hypothesized indirect effect of attachment on psychological distress through intimacy, a direct effect of attachment on psychological distress remains. The implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

By combining the Adult Attachment Interview and the Autobiographical Memory Test, a structured interview was developed as a 'quick and dirty' measure for the assessment of attachment representations in clinical settings. The interview intends to assess valence, incongruence, and accessibility of the attachment representations that are organized in various mental models of relationships. In this study the mental models of relationships involving parents and current partner were addressed, as well as the more general model of self in relationships with significant others. Validity was examined in a sample of couples from the general community. Interrelationships between the different models of attachment relationships were strong enough to warrant the conclusion that each contributes to the same construct (style). Correlations with theoretically proposed consequences of insecure attachment style showed salience of specific working models: valence of self and partner (but not of parents) representations, and incongruence of parental representations related to depressive symptomatology, trait anxiety, relational quality, and communication efficiency. Results indicated that assessment of representations in the working models of different attachment relationships might prove useful in clinical settings, as it might enable localization of those representations that are related to the individual's experience of adversity in interpersonal relationships and affect regulation. Methodological shortcomings are discussed in this context.

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