The intrafamilial transmission of rheumatoid arthritis. VI. Association of rheumatoid arthritis with several types of status inconsistency.

IN THIS report we shall examine the findings which relate an interview-based index of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to diverse forms of status inconsistency. We shall begin by presenting briefly the theoretical rationale which justifies our interest in this rather complex concept and a few studies will be cited to illustrate its empirical usefulness. Next, the measurement procedures will be described in some detail. In the presentation of results, we shall be concerned with three types of status inconsistency: as a variable describing the respondent’s parents’ marriage, as describing the respondent himself, and as characterizing the respondent’s own marriage.