| Abstract: | This study examined the initial construct validity of the Couples Critical Incidents Checklist (CCICL; Piedmont & Piedmont, 1996). One hundred nine heterosexual married couples completed the CCICL to assess levels of marital satisfaction and the NEO PI-R to assess personality factors. As hypothesized, the rater-reports (R) and the self-ratings (S) of each of the five personality dimensions correlated systematically with the kinds of marital issues identified on each of the five sections of the CCICL. For instance, the Flexibility scale of the CCICL captured issues related to the dimension Openness (O) or the Cooperativeness scale of the CCICL assessed issues related to Agreeableness (A). Second, it was hypothesized that specific behavioral problems experienced by the spouses within the marital relationship would significantly correlate with the level of marital satisfaction. Overall, the analyses of the data of both the men and the women suggested that the contributing cause of marital dissatisfaction was not a specific behavioral problem experienced with the spouse, but rather the aggregate of all behavioral problems experienced with the spouse. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Psychol 54: 785–794, 1998. |
