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Article
Convergence and Divergence Among MultipleMethods for Assessing Adolescent Romantic Relationships
Journal of Adolescence
  • Renee Vickerman Galliher, Utah State University
  • Angela M. Enno, Utah State University
  • R. Wright
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2008
Abstract

The problem solving conversations of 92 adolescent romantic couples were analyzed using two innovative techniques for capturing the meaning-making processes in couples’ interactions. Couples were coded using the narrative coding system developed by the Family Narrative Consortium (Fiese & Sameroff, 1999), yielding measures of narrative coherence for each couple member and an assessment of couples’ capacity to engage in the interaction in a coordinated and mutually respectful manner. In addition, a video-recall procedure captured couple members’ own subjective understanding of their own and their partners’ behaviors during the interaction. Moderate associations were observed between trained coders’, boyfriends’, and girlfriends’ perspectives, with more consistent links in some domains between girlfriends’ ratings and observers’ codes. In addition, indices of the quality of the interaction were linked to couple member global self reports of both positive and negative relationship quality, with many associations between observed interaction and global self reports of relationships quality achieving moderate effect sizes.

Citation Information
Galliher, R. V., Enno, A., & Wright, R. (2008). Convergence and divergence among multiple methods for assessing adolescent romantic relationships. Journal of Adolescence, 31, 747 - 769.