THE GEORGIA MARRIAGE Q-SORT: AN OBSERVATIONAL MEASURE OF MARITAL FUNCTIONING.

The development of a new observational measure of marital interaction using a Q-sort methodology is described. The Q-sort is one way of obtaining observer measures of marriage which complements both microcoding and global ratings of marital processes. High interrater agreement was obtained in coding the marital interaction of couples participating in a 2-year study of families with a preschool child. Evidence of construct validity is presented in terms of how the Q-sort relates to CISS ratings, the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, and the Relationship Inventory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]