Name and Type of Measure
The Weiss-Cerreto Martial Status Inventory (MSI) measures the likelihood of divorce or relationship dissolution. The MSI was designed based on the assumption that marriages dissolve in a series of discrete sequential acts.
Synonyms
Introduction
The Weiss-Cerreto Marital Status Inventory (MSI; Weiss and Cerreto 1980) is a highly cited and moderately utilized measure assessing likelihood of divorce. It is a 14-item true or false, dichotomous, Guttman-like scale that assess the cognitive and behavioral acts that typically precede marital dissolution. Scores range from 0 to 14, with higher scores reflecting more active steps taken toward divorce. A score of 4 or more indicates substantial risk of dissolution. The measure is administered to each partner separately and requires approximately 5 min to complete. Each partner’s results can be interpreted separately, but research indicates the wife’s score is more...
Keywords
- Marital Status Inventory
- Guttman Scalogram Analysis
- Relationship Dissolution
- Minimum Marginal Reproducibility (MMR)
- Therapy Research Project
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
References
Funk, J. L., & Rogge, R. D. (2007). Testing the ruler with item response theory: Increasing precision of measurement for relationship satisfaction with the Couples Satisfaction Index. Journal of Family Psychology, 21(4), 572.
Slattery, M. E., Bruce, V., Halford, W. K., & Nicholson, J. M. (2011). Predicting married and cohabitating couples’ futures from their descriptions of stepfamily life. Journal of Family Psychology, 25, 560–569.
VanderDrift, L. E., Agnew, C. R., & Wilson, J. E. (2009). Nonmarital romantic relationship commitment and leave behavior: The mediating role of dissolution consideration. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 1220–1232.
Weiss, R. L., & Cerreto, M. C. (1980). The marital status inventory: Development of a measure of dissolution potential. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 8, 80–85.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Fink, B.C., Shapiro, A.F. (2018). Marital Status Inventory. In: Lebow, J., Chambers, A., Breunlin, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_406-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_406-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-15877-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-15877-8
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences