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This study provides evidence for the reliability and validity of a 7-item constructive communication subscale of the Communication Patterns Questionnaire (CPQ-CC, Christensen & Sullaway, 1984). Seventy married couples completed the CPQ and participated in videotaped problemsolving discussions. The constructiveness of spouses' behavior during the videotaped problem-solving discussions was rated by trained observers. The CPQ-CC had high internal consistency and moderately high agreement between spouses. The CPQ-CC also was strongly associated with observer ratings of the spouses' constructiveness during videotaped problem-solving discussions. Finally, the CPQ-CC was strongly associated with spouses' self-reported marital adjustment. These data support the reliability and validity of this brief self-report measure of constructive communication.
There is now a clear recognition of the central role of communication in marriage. Abundant research demonstrates that the quality of a couple's communication is associated with their marital adjustment. This is particularly true of communication during times of conflict. There is also evidence that certain aspects of conflict communication predict longitudinal changes in relationship adjustment (Bradbury & Karney, 1993; Heavey, Christensen, & Malamuth, 1995). Both global and mircoanalytic coding systems have been developed to characterize the nature of marital conflict behavior (see Markman & Notarius, 1987). However, using these observational systems is extremely time consuming and costly.
Thus, there is a need for measures of conflict communication that are easier to employ. Despite this, there are few self-report measures of conflict communication with demonstrated reliability and validity. One measure is the Communication Patterns Questionnaire (CPQ, Christensen & Sullaway, 1984). The CPQ is a 35-item self-report measure that addresses spouses' behavior during three stages of conflict: (a) when some problem in the relationship arises, (b) during a discussion of a relationship problem, and (c) after a discussion of a relationship problem.
Christensen (1988) presented data concerning the reliability and validity of three subscales of the CPQ: demand/withdraw communication, demand/withdraw roles, and mutual constructive communication. He demonstrated that there was relatively high agreement between partners' independent reports for these three subscales (r's above .70). He also found that the mutual constructive communication and demand/withdraw communication subscales were significantly related to marital adjustment in the expected direction.
Christensen and Shenk (1991) examined three similar CPQ subscales in a later study. The subscales used in their study were mutual constructive...