The marital love relationship: Construction and preliminary validation on 610 subjects of a psychoanalytically derived inventory.

Abstract

Aim of this work was empirical assessment of the different components of couple relationship in a general population sample, through the construction and validation of an inventory composed of items based on psychoanalytic theories, the analysis of its factor structure and of the relationship of factor scores with other relevant variables. A group of 15 psychoanalysts developed 48 4-point items pertaining to the following areas, drawn from the most relevant psychoanalytic theories: Eroticism/Passion; Tenderness/Attachment/Care; Security/Fidelity; Dependence; Illusion/Idealization; Pregenital Aspects; Destructiveness; Play Capacity; Similarity/Difference of Partner from Parental Figures; and Alterity/Fusionality. After pilot administration to 100 subjects and refinement, the inventory was administered to 610 general population subjects (324 females) aged between 25 and 60, living together with a heterosexual partner for at least 12 months. Subjects were also administered a Marital Satisfaction Scale, the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale Revised (ECR-R) and measures of relevant sociodemographic variables. Factor Analysis yielded five factors, explaining 34.89% of variance, labeled: Idealization/Persecution, Attunement, Mistrust, Erotic Fantasies, and Dependence. Attunement explained the highest proportion of variance, thus emerging as the most relevant dimension. Another prominent finding was the coalescence of items originally conceived to measure the presence of oedipal, pregenital, and destructive components in a single factor, Erotic Fantasies. Internal reliability was satisfactory for all factorial scales. Marital Satisfaction correlated positively with Attunement and Dependence, and negatively with Idealization/Persecution, Mistrust and Erotic Fantasies. Secure subjects appeared high on Attunement, Fantasies and Dependence; Avoidant subjects appeared high on Mistrust, low in Attunement, Fantasies and Dependence; Anxious subjects appeared high in Fantasies and Dependence, low in Attunement.

Success of assisted reproductive technology treatment and couple relationship: A pilot study on the role of romantic attachment

“…Each item is rated on a 4-point Likert-type scale, and a score for each factor is obtained. The questionnaire showed sufficient internal reliability of the scales (Solano et al, 2012): Idealization Persecution (four items, Cronbach’s alpha = .49); Attunement (12 items; Cronbach’s alpha = .80); Mistrust (seven items; Cronbach’s alpha = .59); Erotic Fantasies (seven items; Cronbach’s alpha = .62); and Dependence (six items; Cronbach’s alpha = .57). In the current sample, a sufficient internal reliability of the scales was confirmed: Idealization/Persecution (four items; Cronbach’s alpha = .51); Attunement (12 items: Cronbach’s alpha = .72); Mistrust (seven items; Cronbach’s alpha = .57); Erotic Fantasies (seven items; Cronbach’s alpha = .60); and Dependence (six items; Cronbach’s alpha = .58).…”

“…In the current sample, the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R) demonstrated good internal reliability (anxiety: Cronbach's alpha = .82; avoidance: Cronbach's alpha = .79). Solano et al (2012) was utilized to assess the different components of a couple's relationship. This measure includes five factors: (1) Idealization/Persecution (four items) indicates how initial idealization of the partner presently appears as deep disappointment verging on persecution; (2) Attunement (12 items) reflects the capacity of partners to signal mutual needs or to join in shared intimate activities; (3) Mistrust (seven items) investigates uncertainty related to fidelity and reliability of the partner with a tendency to control the relationship; (4) Erotic Fantasies (seven items) reports sexual fantasies; and (5) Dependence (six items) indicates aspects of tenderness, attachment, care and dependence.…”

Concept of Affective Dependence and Validation of an Affective Dependence Scale

“…Rather, marital satisfaction is positively correlated with attunement and dependence, while negatively correlated with idealization, persecution, and distrust. 4 , 5 However, feelings of love can be more intense than desired, as it tends to happen after a breakup, or, contrarily, less intense than expected, as it is the case of long-term relationships.…”