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Marital Status Inventory

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Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy

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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

Relationship status inventory*; Weiss-Ceretto*

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...

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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.

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  • 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.

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  • 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.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

    Brandi C. Fink

  2. San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA

    Alyson F. Shapiro

Authors
  1. Brandi C. Fink
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  2. Alyson F. Shapiro
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brandi C. Fink .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Family Institute at Northwestern, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    Jay Lebow

  2. The Family Institute at Northwestern, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    Anthony Chambers

  3. The Family Institute at Northwestern, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    Douglas C. Breunlin

Section Editor information

  1. Council for Relationships, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Heather Pederson

  2. Midwestern University, Downers Grove, IL, USA

    Diana Semmelhack

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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

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_406-1

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  • 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

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