Lavee and Olson's (1993) formula described above. Couple scores were employed rather

than individual scores so discrepancies between partners' levels of individual well-being

could be taken into account. Also, it is assumed each partner's level of individual well-

being will impact the other partner and their relationship; therefore moving from an

individual to a relational level of analysis seems valid for this variable.

 Although the MHI-5 is significantly shorter than the original 38 item Mental Health

Inventory, researchers have found correlations between the two measures ranging from

.92 to .95 (Davies, Sherbourne, Peterson, & Ware, 1988; Ware & Gandek, 1994). Across

five samples (ranging in size from 229 participants to 10,771 participants), the item-total

correlations for each of the questions ranged from .54 to .81 (Stewart, Ware, Sherbourne,

& Wells, 1992). Cronbach's alpha was found to be .90 in one sample and .86 in another

(Stewart et al., 1992). Internal consistency was found to be .79 in the present study.

Demonstrating its validity, the MHI-5 performed as well as the MHI-18, the GHQ-30,

and the SSI-28 at detecting anxiety disorders, major depression, dysthymic disorder, and

grief reactions, only being outperformed by the MHI-18 on detecting a full range of

affective disorders (Berwick, 1991).

 Overall, the MHI-5 seems an excellent measure of individual well-being and strain.

It is balanced in measuring both positive and negative states, the absence of which has

been criticized in other scales. It also demonstrates very good reliability and validity, and

a high level of readability (with the SMOG Reading Formula indicating a reading-level at

or below 4th grade and the Flesch-Kincaid Formula indicating a 5th grade reading-level).

Demographic Information

 Participants' demographic information was acquired through their responses to a

series of questions concerning their personal characteristics and couple attributes. Data