title: Assessing implicit motivational orientations in couple relationships: the Partner-Related Agency and Communion Test (PACT).
abstract: The Partner-Related Agency and Communion Test (PACT) was developed to measure implicit agentic and communal needs in the domain of couple relationships through content analyses of fantasy stories. Study 1 (N = 125) confirmed that the new thematic coding system captured experimentally induced differences in partner-related motivation and showed expected relations with D. G. Winter's (1994) motive scoring system. Study 2 confirmed the discriminant and incremental validity of the implicit partner-related needs compared with self-report measures of the Big Five traits and adult attachment in a sample of 499 couples. In addition, dyadic analyses revealed expected associations of the partner-related needs with relationship satisfaction as experienced by oneself and by one's partner. The studies lend initial support to the validity of the relationship-specific needs for agency and communion as assessed by the PACT and introduce dyadic data analyses to the study of implicit motives.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Psychologie, Friedrich-Schiller-Universita¨t Jena, Jena, Germany. birk.hagemeyer@uni-jena.de
authors.forename: Birk
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hagemeyer
authors.forename: Franz J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Neyer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003463:Cues; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005201:Fantasy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009042:Motivation; D009769:Object Attachment; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D010556:Personality Tests / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011209:Power, Psychological; D011582:Psychological Theory; D011594:Psychometrics; D012649:Self Concept; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult