Psychological Reports, 1995, 76, 1248-1250 O Psychological Reports 1995

DEVELOPMENT OF THE RELATIONSHIP BELIEFS QUESTIONNAIRE '

JOHN S. C. ROMANS JEFFREY DEBORD

Departmen! of Applied Behavioral Studies in Education

Oklahoma Sfate Uniuenzty

Danuille Illinois Veterans Administration Hospital

Summary.-The cognitive mediation model of human psychological Functioning has received increased attention in examining the role of cognitive variables within distressed relationships. Development of the Relationship Behefs Questionnaire, de- signed to assess adherence to relationship-specific irrational beliefs, is described. In 970 subjects, factor analysis yielded nine factors which made conceptual sense. On the total scale Cronbach alpha was .95. These results are described in terms of research and practice applications.

While the cognitive mediation model has gained increasing attention in individual therapy over the last 40 or so years, several marital and family therapists have also begun applying cognitive therapeutic principles in their work (Epstein, 1985). Recent research has indicated associations between certain cognitive variables and marital distress (Baucom, 1987; Thompson & Snyder, 1986). As applied to d y a l c relationships, the cognitive medation model posits that the emotional and behavioral reactions experienced by each member of a family or marital relationship is in part related to their perceptions of the nature and meaning of their interactions.

From this one may logically conclude that marital and family problems result not so much from what happens among the members as from their idiosyncratic perceptions of those happenings, which operate on the various unrealistic beliefs and standards the members hold about their famhal or marital interactions. As a result, there has been increasing attention in the literature to the role of cognitive components within distressed relationships (Berley & Jacobson, 1984; Eidelson & Epstein, 1981; Epstein, 1982; Stuart, 1980) and a call for the development of more sensitive cognitive measures (Martzke, Anderson, & Cacioppo, 1987). Development of the Relationship Beliefs Questionnaire was designed to assess cognitive components within &stressed relationships by measuring adherence to specific beliefs about re- lationships.

METHOD The initial version of the Relationship Beliefs Questionnaire consisted of

'Address enquiries co J. S. C. Romans, Ph.D., Colle e of Education, 202 N. Murray Hall, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078. e-ma$: Absdjs&osuvml.bitnet.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE RELATIONSHIP BELIEFS 1249

142 items which were rated in a format anchored by 1 =strongly disagree, and 6=strongly agree. Several of the items were reverse-scored to minimize the influence of response-set bias. Items were developed using the irrational relationship beliefs discussed by E h s and Grieger (1986) as well as from our own chical experience. This initial version was administered to 427 under- graduate students from a large midwestern university, resulting in 370 usable questionnaires. SPSS's (1990) factor analysis program for principal axis fac- toring using varirnax rotation provided the factor analytic procedure. Originally, 29 factors were extracted with eigenvalues of 1.0 or greater. The factor analysis yielded nine factors which made conceptual sense and on which at least five variables showed item loadmgs of 3.5. Other items were eluninated, reducing the total to 71 items. The next step in the development consisted of distributing the 71-item revised form to 567 subjects recruited from various places of employment and community settings in the midwest and southwest. These sites were selected to ensure some breadth of educa- tional and socioeconomic status.

RESULTS Of the 567 copies dstributed, 202 usable questionnaires were returned.

The mean age for these subjects was 42 years, while the mean length of mar- riage was 17 years. All 101 men were Caucasian as were 99 of the 101 women, with the remaining two women being Hispanic and Native Ameri- can.

The total scale Cronbach alpha for internal consistency was .95. The Cronbach alphas obtained for the nine subscales ranged from .68 to .91. The names of these subscales, the number of items, and the obtained Cron- bach alpha are as follows: "We should be completely open and honest with each other at all times" (14 items, .91), "We should be able to reach each other's minds" (7 items, .83), "We should do everything together" (8 items, .85), "We should be able to meet all of each other's needs" (9 items, .88), "We should be willing and able to change for each other" (9 items, .77), "Things should always be perfect between us" (7 items, .75), "Good rela- tionships should be easy to maintain" (6 items, .68), "One can never be complete without being involved in a romantic relationship" (5 items, .6l), and "Romantic idealism" (6 items, .76). Total scores can range from 71 to 426, with higher scores indcating greater adherence to dysfunctional beliefs. Women's ( n= 101) mean score was 183.0 (SD=49.6) and the men's ( n= 101) mean score was 201.0 (SD=46.3).

Validity The Relationship Beliefs Lnventory (Eidelson & Epstein, 1982) has 40

items which comprise the five subscales ( I ) Disagreement is destructive, (2) Mindreading is expected, (3) Partners cannot change, (4) Sexual perfection-

J. S. C. ROMANS & J. DEBORD

ism, and ( 5 ) The sexes are Merent . Several of these subscales are rep- resented to varying extents on the questionnaire. For instance, the belief that "Disagreement is destructive" can be seen as similar to the current question- naire's subscale that "Things should always be perfect between us," and "Good relationships should be easy to maintain," indcating content validity for the questionnaire.

The two inventories were administered to 38 students at a midwestern community college. The Pearson correlation between scores on the two ques- tionnaires was .44, which was statistically significant ( p = .01) and indicates the two measures measure similar domains. However, a fairly large per- centage of the variance is left unaccounted for, which indicates that the do- mains are not identical. Such a conclusion would be expected if the Rela- tionship Beliefs Questionnaire was a more comprehensive one than the Rational Beliefs Inventory.

Conclusions

The results support the type of relationship-specific irrational beliefs as dscussed by E h s and Grieger (1986). The Relationship Beliefs Question- naire appears to have potential for the study of relationship-specific irration- al beliefs, particularly specific categories of relationship beliefs. Uses after further validation in chical settings might include the fachation of the identification and subsequent resolution of relationship-oriented issues.

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Accepted May 11, 1995.