THE WORKPLACE ATTACHMENT STYLES QUESTIONNAIRE IN SHORTENED 9-ITEM VERSION Kristína Mrázková, & Elena Lisá Institute of Applied Psychology, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University (Slovakia) Abstract Introduction: Place attachment is multi-dimensional and depends on a reciprocal relationship between behavior and experience. It comes from environmental psychology, and it has its roots in the theory of attachment because of an emotional link between an individual and a place. The present paper aims to describe the psychometric characteristics of the Slovak version of The Workplace Attachment Styles Questionnaire (Srima, 2018). Methods: The original questionnaire consists of 15 items with a Likert scale ranging from totally disagree to agree. The research sample consisted of 645 working adults of a convenience sample, aged from 16 to 78 years, consisting of 54.9% women, from various work fields (finance, sales, education). We randomly divided the sample into two halves for separate studies. Results: In the first study with 323 adult participants, we used exploratory factor analysis to examine its construct validity. According to exploratory factor analysis, we reduced the 15-item questionnaire to a 9-item structure with three original factors: secure (AM = 6.23, SD = 2.32), dismissive (AM = 3.64, SD = 2.54), and preoccupied (AM = 3.64, SD = 2.31) workplace attachment styles, with an average internal consistency of 0.75. In the second study with 322 participants, we executed the confirmatory factor analysis, which confirmed the three-factor structure, with an average internal consistency of 0.65. Discussion: The results confirmed the original three-factor structure of The Workplace Attachment Styles Questionnaire with 9 original items instead of 15. This paper contributes to the shorter version of the Workplace Attachment Styles questionnaire adapted to the Slovak population. The study's limitations are the absence of other measurement tools that could verify the construct of workplace attachment itself (Adult Attachment in the Workplace, Experience in Close Relationship Questionnaire). That is also what is worth doing in the next research. Keywords: Workplace attachment, attachment styles, secure, dismissive, preoccupied. 1. Introduction Attachment is a widely studied construct rooted in human biological nature. The field of attachment research initially encompasses only the emotional bond between the infant and the mother (Bowlby 2010). Gradually, children's behavior after separation from their mothers began to be studied, and attachment methods ensued. Thus, attachment styles emerged that made it easier to identify individuals' behavior in interactions with others (Ainsworth 1979). Further research focused on attachment styles' stability over time and confirmed their relative stability through school age (Main et al. 1985). In time, the research field focused on transferring attachment from childhood to adulthood and close relationships (Hazan & Shaver 1994). However, only a few studies have focused on attachment in an organizational context (Scrima 2014, 2017). Place attachment bases on the roots of urban sociology, human geography, and environmental psychology. Within environmental psychology, place attachment is an interdisciplinary concept that contributes to merging different scientific disciplines. It emphasizes the symbolic meaning for people and the strength of the emotional relationship with the place (Naništová 1998). Under this approach, place attachment has been measured with one-dimensional scales used in several studies (Bonaiuto, Fornara, & Bonnes 2003; Rioux & Mokounkolo 2005; Velasco & Rioux 2010). The best known one-dimensional scale for examining workplace attachment is The Workplace Attachment Scale (Rioux 2006), which defines workplace attachment as an emotional bond that results from the dynamic interaction between employees and the organizational environment and is an essential aspect of the quality of work life. The relationship between attachment theory and workplace attachment primarily concerns the emotional bonds individuals form with the physical environment (Giuliani 2003). Scrima et al. were the first to DOI: 10.36315/2021inpact051 Psychological Applications and Trends 2021 247