title: Assessing conflict communication in couples: comparing the validity of self-report, partner-report, and observer ratings.
abstract: This study of married couples investigated the short-term predictive validity of the partner-report and self-report scales of the Conflict Communication Inventory and compared the validity of these scales with the validity of observer ratings. A sample of 83 married couples completed two problem-solving conversations. Self-report, partner-report, and observer ratings from Conversation 1 were used to predict behavior in Conversation 2, as rated by a separate panel of observers. The short-term predictive validity of partner-report ratings was extremely high and indistinguishable from the validity of observer ratings. Self-report ratings also demonstrated good validity, albeit slightly lower than other methods. Both partner-report and self-report scores explained a substantial amount of variance in concurrent observer ratings of communication after controlling for relationship satisfaction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Baylor University, One Bear Place #97334, Waco, TX 76798-7334, USA. keith_sanford@baylor.edu
authors.forename: Keith
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sanford
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003142:Communication; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D011340:Problem Solving; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012649:Self Concept; D012938:Social Perception; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires