An evaluation of an interview assessment of marriage

Abstract

Synopsis An interview assessment of marriage relationships is described. It is shown to have good inter-rater reliability, high consistency across the accounts of both marriage partners and to be resistant to methodologic bias. A four-year follow-up study demonstrated high predictive validity to later marriage breakdown. The marriage measure also showed a strong association with behavioural deviance in the children. The intercorrelations between individual measures of various aspects of the marriage and the summary measure are given. A shortened version of the interview is described and preliminary findings are given on its validity.