Psychological Testing of Marriage

Crane, D. R., Soderquist, J.N., Frank, R.L. (1995). Predicting divorce at marital therapy intake: A preliminary model. The

American Journal of Family

Therapy, 23 (3), 227-236.

Presented By: Alana Williams, Jolie Randall, Liz Price, and Gina Bright

Purpose of Study

 To predict divorce in a marital distressed and therapy-seeking population, using data from two forms of marital assessment. Crane, D.R., Soderquist, J.N., Frank, R.L. (1995). Predicting divorce at marital therapy intake: A preliminary model. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 23(3), 227 236.

Marital Status Inventory

 “MSI”  True/False Test that reliably and validly measures divorce potential.

Crane, D.R., Soderquist, J.N., Frank, R.L. (1995). Predicting divorce at marital therapy intake: A preliminary model. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 23(3), 227 236.

Marital Adjustment Test

 “MAT”  Measures overall marital quality and accurately and consistently differentiates between distressed and not distressed couples.

Crane, D.R., Soderquist, J.N., Frank, R.L. (1995). Predicting divorce at marital therapy intake: A preliminary model. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 23(3), 227 236.

Past vs. Current Studies

  Past studies have utilized cross sectional data collected mainly from women.

The current study utilized longitudinal data from closed files from BYU’s MFT clinic. Therefore data included men and women.

Crane, D.R., Soderquist, J.N., Frank, R.L. (1995). Predicting divorce at marital therapy intake: A preliminary model. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 23(3), 227 236.

Testing Models

   The study tested various models that best predicted divorce outcome.

The best model included the individual contributions of both partners, but studied as mutually influential variables.

This model was significantly more accurate than chance at assigning marital status.

Crane, D.R., Soderquist, J.N., Frank, R.L. (1995). Predicting divorce at marital therapy intake: A preliminary model. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 23(3), 227 236.

Most Important Predictor

 Wife’s distress level (as measured by the MSI) was found to be the most important factor in predicting marital outcome.

Crane, D.R., Soderquist, J.N., Frank, R.L. (1995). Predicting divorce at marital therapy intake: A preliminary model. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 23(3), 227 236.

Three Interesting Points

 1) The weight of women’s distress level versus men’s distress level.

 2) Marital quality (tested by the MAT) was not found to have a strong or direct relationship to marital stability.

 3) Women who married at an older age were more likely to get divorced.

Frank, R.L. (1995). Predicting divorce at marital therapy intake: A preliminary model. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 23(3), 227 236.

Three Weak Points

   1) The subject sample consisted entirely of couples from the Mormon population. 2) High face validity of MAT and MSI allows fakeability and social desirability. 3) Misleading weight placed on women’s MSI score. Crane, D.R., Soderquist, J.N., Frank, R.L. (1995). Predicting divorce at marital therapy intake: A preliminary model. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 23(3), 227 236.

Conclusion

 The MSI was valuable for marital therapy.

 The MAT scores did not determine marital stability. Crane, D.R., Soderquist, J.N., Frank, R.L. (1995). Predicting divorce at marital therapy intake: A preliminary model. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 23(3), 227 236.