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ASSESSING NONTRADITIONAL COUPLES: VALIDITY OF THE MARITAL SATISFACTION INVENTORY‐REVISED WITH GAY, LESBIAN, AND COHABITING HETEROSEXUAL COUPLES
Author(s) -
MeansChristensen Adrienne J.,
Snyder Douglas K.,
Negy Charles
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of marital and family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.868
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1752-0606
pISSN - 0194-472X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-0606.2003.tb00384.x
Subject(s) - lesbian , psychology , internal consistency , heterosexuality , construct validity , intervention (counseling) , marital therapy , social psychology , homosexuality , clinical psychology , psychometrics , psychiatry , psychoanalysis
Thirty‐one gay male couples and 28 lesbian couples were compared with 36 cohabiting heterosexual couples using the Marital Satisfaction Inventory‐Revised (MSI‐R), a multidimensional measure of relationship functioning intended for use with both traditional and nontraditional couples. Analyses of scales' internal consistency and factor structure supported the construct validity of this measure with nontraditional couples. Analyses of mean profiles on the MSI‐R indicated that cohabiting opposite‐gender and same‐gender couples were more alike than different, and were more similar to nondistressed samples of married heterosexual couples from the general community than to couples in therapy. Implications of current findings for clinical assessment and intervention are considered, and directions for future research are proposed.