The Texas Tech Relationship Interaction Scale (TTRIS): development of a relationship interaction measure for couples

The most widely used measures of marital satisfaction are global in nature, relying on a heterogeneous mix of items that measure both behavior and satisfaction. Mixing behavior and satisfaction presents problems in that satisfaction scores provide no specific information regarding particular behaviors. When behavioral information is obtained, it is confounded with satisfaction responses.

The goal of this dissertation was to develop an instrument (Texas Tech Relationship Interaction Scale; TTRIS) that allows for the measurement of partnership behaviors. The TTRIS is a 36-item instrument with 6 scales representing important relationship behaviors:(1) Salutary Recognition, (2) Ego-Building Comments, (3) Expanding Shared Memories, (4) Exciting Activities, (5) Feedback, and (6) Small-Talk.