Distress and Divorce: Establishing Cutoff Scores for the Marital Status Inventory

Keywords

divorce, distress, Marital Status Inventory, cutoff scores

Abstract

This study was designed to identify Marital Status Inventory (MSI) scores that could be used as cutoff points for degrees of marital distress. Cutoff scores are useful in clinical work as a way to estimate degrees of marital distress, differentiate couples for treatments, and to provide uniformity across studies. Subjects consisted of 474 couples requesting marital therapy at a university-based clinic. Based on their individual Marital Adjustment Test (MAT) scores, participants were placed in severely distressed, moderately distressed, and non-distressed groups. Using a discriminant analysis, MSI scores of 4 for husbands and 5 for wives were found to be useful cutoff points for severe distress.

Original Publication Citation

Whiting, J. B., & Crane, D. R. (2003). Distress and divorce: Establishing cutoff scores for the marital status inventory. Contemporary Family Therapy, 25 (2). 195-205

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2003-6

Permanent URL

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/5060

Publisher

Contemporary Family Therapy

Language

English

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Family Life

University Standing at Time of Publication

Full Professor

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