Couples' standards for their relationships (what their relationships should be like) are among the major types of cognitions that affect marital adjustment. The phase I investigations are intended to develop and validate two new self-report inventories for assessing relationship standards.
Specific aims i nclude item analysis, assessments of reliability, confirmatory factor analysis of the items on the scales, a multitrait-multimethod matrix testing the convergent and discriminant validity of the scales, further construct validity studies relating standards to other indices of marital functioning, and an initial marketing survey. Random samples of community couples in two sites will complete the new inventories along with other self-report measures of marital functioning. Premarital counselors, marital counselors, and marital researchers will participate in a marketing survey assessing relevance of the constructs and likelihood of use by professionals. Assessment of important marital cognitions by clinicians and researchers has been hindered by the lack of well-constructed instruments. Consequently, the new inventories will greatly enhance professionals' ability to evaluate this important aspect of marital functioning. The commercial success of the PI's existing inventory of relationship attitudes forecasts even greater commercial potential for the newly developed measures that are more comprehensive.
