Marital Adjustment: Controllin the Tendency to Distort Evaluations

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Abstract
The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of conventionalization on marital ad justment research and other highly ego‐involved studies relying upon self‐report data. Convention alization is defined as the tendency of human subjects to distort self‐appraisal data in the direction of social desirability. Relationships between marital adjustment, self‐esteem, and other sociodemo graphic variables were examined without adjusting for conventionalization. The same analyses were then performed adjusting for conventionalization via a partial correlation technique. Data were based on responses from 38 randomly selected couples who had been married at least six months but not more than two years. Statistical analyses of marital adjustment, self‐esteem, and other selected sociodemographic variables provided insight into the differential response patterns of husbands and wives.Results indicated that (1) neither marital adjustment nor self‐esteem is unidimensional; (2) the relationship between marital adjustment and self‐esteem is a complex, multi‐faceted matter, and (3) only when conventionalization is dealt with in research design and analysis can its contaminating effects be negated and can the results of studies using self‐rating instruments be considered valid.