Pierce, G. R., et al. (1991). General and relationship-based perceptions of social support: Are two constructs better than one? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 61:1028–39.
Comments: The 29-item Quality of Relationships Inventory (QRI) measures three aspects of specific relationships: social support, conflict, and depth. Since the inventory measures relationships that are considered important, it might be useful to use the inventory within the educational system to discover positive as well as negative perceptions of the teacher-administrator relationship.
Sample: The original sample consisted of 116 undergraduate women and 94 undergraduate males. Participants were enrolled in an introductory course in psychology and earned extra credit for their taking part in this study.
Reliability: Internal reliability coefficients for friends were 0.85 (support), 0.91 (conflict), and 0.84 (depth). Alpha coef- ficients are also reported for mother and father. Based on the results of the most recent study by the authors, the three subscales of the QRI were stable over a period of one year.
Validity: Construct validity was established through factor analysis. Evidence for convergent and discriminant validity were included not only in the original article, but also in the follow-up study conducted by the authors.
Factor Analysis: An oblique rotation yielded three factors: seven items on social support; 12 items on conflict; and six items on depth. Four items failed to load significantly on one factor with minimum overlap on the other two factors. Definition of Factors: Social support examines the ability to rely on others for help in various situations. Depth ex- amines the usefulness of a relationship. Conflict examines anger or ambivalence toward the other participant in the relationship.
Data Analysis: Means, standard deviations, skewness, and range for each of the three factors (subscales) are presented.
References
Harper, A. J. (2008). The relationship between experiences of sexism, ambivalent sexism, and relationship quality in heterosexual women. PhD dissertation, Auburn University.
Hicks, M. H. G. (2011). Comparing interpersonal relationship changes after dyadic and meditational dispute interventions for work- place conflict. PhD dissertation, Northcentral University.
Hughes-Brand, N. S. (2007). Adolescent group therapy: A Gottman relationship-based approach using art-based interventions. PhD dissertation, Florida State University.
Patterson, R. E. (2008). Multidimensional perfectionism and relational health in clinical and subclinical eating disturbances. PhD dissertation, Pennsylvania State University.
Verdino, J. (2009). Attachment and the quality of romantic relationships of young adults with same-sex parents. PhD dissertation, Fordham University.
Quality of Relationships Inventory
- To what extent can you count on this person to listen to you when you are very angry at someone else?
- To what extent can you turn to this person for advice about problems?
- To what extent can you really count on this person to distract you from your worries when you feel under stress?
- To what extent could you count on this person for help with a problem?
- If you wanted to go out and do something this evening, how confident are you that this person would be willing to do something with
- To what extent could you count on this person to help you if a family member very close to you died?
- To what extent can you count on this person to give you honest feedback, even if you might not want to hear it?
- How angry does this person make you feel?
- How upset does this person sometimes make you feel?
- How often does this person make you feel angry?
- How much do you argue with this person?
- How often do you have to work hard to avoid conflict with this person?
- How much would you like this person to change?
- How much do you have to “give in” in this relationship?
- How much does this person make you feel guilty?
- How much does this person want you to change?
- How often does this person try to control or influence your life?
- How critical of you is this person?
- How much more do you give than you get from this relationship?
- To what extent can you trust this person not to hurt your feelings?
- How often do problems that occur in this relationship get resolved?
- How significant is this relationship in your life?
- How much do you depend on this person?
- How close will your relationship be with this person in 10 years?
- How positive a role does this person play in your life?
- How responsible do you feel for this person’s well-being?
- How much would you miss this person if the two of you could not see or talk with each other for a month?
- If you could have only a small number of social relationships, how much would you want your contact with this person to be among them?
- How considerate is this person to your needs?
Scoring: Not at all = 1; A little = 2; Quite a bit = 3; and Very much = 4.