ABSTRACT
The objective of marital assessment based on social learning theory is to explore the interface between the specific relationship behaviors that spouses perform and the subjective cognitions that spouses hold about relationship satisfaction. To assess a marital relationship, the therapist must help the couple clarify and objectify vague global concepts with which they are familiar into discrete observable behaviors. Spouses enter therapy with numerous assumptions about what has caused their relationship problems, with evaluations of themselves and their mates as marital partners and with attitudes about the quality of the relationship. Assessment that is ongoing throughout the course of therapy, rather than solely for the purposes of pre- and posttherapy evaluation, is essential for treatment planning. Some patterns of couple interaction, which spouses may refer to as high or low “cycles,” unfold only over the course of several weeks or longer. Together the couple and the therapist can actively monitor the effect that each intervention produces on relationship functioning.
