ABSTRACT
Affect toward parental, spousal, and nonspousal figures in Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) responses was evaluated in two studies. Higher positive spousal than parental and nonspousal affect was hypothesized to associate with marital adjustment. In study 1, positive and negative scores ranging from +2 to –2 were assigned to each story. Scoring guides were based on frequent responses, stimulus pull, and quality of responses. Test–retest reliability over two weeks rendered r = .88 similarity in affect and 86% agreement in interpersonal categories. Interscorer agreements on affective scores ranged from r = .93 to .97 and interpersonal categories ranged from 96 to 98% agreement. Interviewees were 30 married Caucasian middle-class couples. Cards 1, 2, 4, 6GF, 13MF, and 16, as well as the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier, 1976), were administered. Results, significant at the .001 level, were discussed in terms of development in interpersonal choices. Study 2 focused on couples as a unit of analysis. Qualitative analysis on the couple level was based on quantitative affective scores obtained by each spouse within each couple in study 1. Four conjugal profiles were identified: spousal primacy, affective imbalance, underlying difficulties, and apparent difficulties. These profiles present positions on a developmental continuum of interpersonal choices ranging from highest to lowest positive affect within spousal projected interactions as opposed to parental and nonspousal affect.
