Use of Repertory Grids to Assess Understanding Between Partners in Marital Therapy

Seven couples referred to a clinical psychologist for marital therapy or psychosexual counseling were asked to complete a variety of repertory grid ratings and a marital satisfaction questionnaire. Links between understanding, similarity, perceived similarity, and marital satisfaction were examined; sex differences were also considered. In this small sample, understanding, similarity, and marital satisfaction were not found to be related. The men did tend to be better than the women at predicting their respective partner's grid. These findings are discussed in relation to previous research on marital satisfaction within the personal construct literature.