title: The Relationship Quality Interview: evidence of reliability, convergent and divergent validity, and incremental utility.
abstract: Relationship satisfaction and adjustment have been the target outcome variables for almost all couple research and therapies. In contrast, far less attention has been paid to the assessment of relationship quality. The present study introduces the Relationship Quality Interview (RQI), a semistructured, behaviorally anchored individual interview. The RQI was designed to provide a more objective assessment of relationship quality as a dynamic, dyadic construct across 5 dimensions: (a) quality of emotional intimacy in the relationship, (b) quality of the couple's sexual relationship, (c) quality of support transactions in the relationship, (d) quality of the couple's ability to share power in the relationship, and (e) quality of conflict/problem-solving interactions in the relationship. Psychometric properties of RQI ratings were examined through scores obtained from self-report questionnaires and behavioral observation data collected cross-sectionally from a sample of 91 dating participants and longitudinally from a sample of 101 married couples. RQI ratings demonstrated strong reliability (internal consistency, interrater agreement, interpartner agreement, and correlations among scales), convergent validity (correlations between RQI scale ratings and questionnaire scores assessing similar domains of relationship quality), and divergent validity (correlations between RQI scale ratings and (a) behavioral observation codes assessing related constructs, (b) global relationship satisfaction scores, and (c) scores on individual difference measures of related constructs). Clinical implications of the RQI for improving couple assessment and interventions are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The University of Iowa, 11 Seashore Hall East, Iowa City, IA 52242-1407, USA. erika-lawrence@uiowa.edu
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lawrence
authors.forename: Robin A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Barry
authors.forename: Rebecca L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Brock
authors.forename: Mali
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bunde
authors.forename: Amie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Langer
authors.forename: Eunyoe
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ro
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fazio
authors.forename: Lorin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mulryan
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hunt
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Madsen
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dzankovic
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D054541:Family Conflict / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality; D011581:Psychological Tests / Q000592:standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D055815:Young Adult