RELATE: Relationship Evaluation of the Individual, Family, Cultural, and Couple Contexts^*

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to present the conceptual model underlying RELATE, a relationship evaluation instrument, and to describe how this instrument can be used by instructors, clinicians, and therapists. The RELATE model contains measures of the 4 primary contexts of a couple's experience: the individual, the family, the culture, and the couple. The model includes some of the primary variables in Gottman's marital cascade and has been evaluated for reliability and validity. Examples of how to use the instrument and model are illustrated for couples, educators, and clinicians. I t is challenging to capture the dynamics of couple relationships. Scholars have used interviews, observations, surveys, tasks, and even physiological measures to attempt to understand the quality of relationships. One group of scholars, the RELATE Institute (RI, previously the Marriage Study Consortium), was formed in 1979 by a diverse group of researchers, clinicians, and educators, dedicated to the dual goals of strengthening and understanding premarital and marital relationships.Over the last 20 years, members of the RI have grappled with trying to measure the complexities of adult romantic relationships from a variety of different angles. In addition, the RI has searched for ways to present data in a manner that is useful to couples and the family professionals who work with them. Through this endeavor, three versions of a comprehensive instrument and accompanying feedback tool have been published. The most recent version of the instrument is the RELATionship Evaluation Questionnaire (RELATE; Holman, Busby, Doxey, Klein, & Loyer-Carlson, 1997). This article describes the development of the conceptual model from which RELATE was derived and discusses how the model and instrument can be used by educators, clinicians, and researchers. The Development of the RELATE ModelThe RELATE model was developed by reviewing over 50 years of research that delineated the important premarital predictors of later marital quality and stability. The comprehensive

Differences in Pornography Use Among Couples: Associations with Satisfaction, Stability, and Relationship Processes

“…Couples generally reported high satisfaction levels (M = 3.99, SD = 0.71). The RELATE satisfaction measures employed in this study have shown high test-retest reliability (between 0.76 and 0.78) and validity data have consistently shown that this scale is highly correlated with an existing relationship satisfaction and quality scale (Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale) in both cross-sectional and longitudinal research (Busby et al, 2001(Busby et al, , 2009.…”

“…''Responses were measured on a 5-point scale (1 = never to 5 = very often). In terms of test-retest and validity information on this scale, the communication items have been shown to have test-retest values between 0.70 and 0.83 and were appropriately correlated with a version of a commonly used Relationship Quality measure as predicted (Busby et al, 2001). Also, this scale has been shown in longitudinal research to be predictive of couple outcomes and are amenable to change in couple interventionstudies thatfocusoncommunication (Busby et al, 2007).…”

“…These couples were sampled across the United States and formed couple pairs who took the Relationship Evaluation Questionnaire instrument online from 2008 until 2013 (RELATE; see below) (Busby, Holman, & Taniguchi, 2001). The largest racial group was White (male: 68 %; female:68 %)followedbyBlack(male:4 %;female:3 %),Asian (male: 4 %; female: 5 %), and Latino (male: 3 %; female: 3 %) participants.…”

“…These items were adapted from earlier work by Booth, Johnson, and Edwards (1983). Cronbach's alpha was in the acceptable range (male: a = 0.79; female: a = 0.80).Previous studies have shownthis scale tohave test-retest reliability values between 0.78 and 0.86, to be appropriately correlated with other relationship quality measures, andtobevalidfor use incross-sectionalandlongitudinalresearch (Busby et al, 2001(Busby et al, , 2009Busby, Ivey, Harris, & Ates, 2007).…”

Validity evidence of the Portuguese version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index for Couples

“…Existem algumas medidas de funcionamento marital que também incluem subescalas de empatia (e.g., Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory; Barrett-Lennard, 1962;Wampler & Powell, 1982;Relationship Evaluation Questionnaire;Busby, Holman, & Taniguchi, 2001), contudo elas têm recebido pouca atenção empírica e não se demonstraram capazes para distinguir componentes emocionais e cognitivos da empatia. Considerando evidência que sugere que a empatia cognitiva e emocional pode desempenhar papel distinto no ajustamento relacional (Davis & Oathout, 1987), era central a existência de uma medida multidimensional de empatia diádica.…”