Mate retention in marriage: Further evidence of the reliability of the Mate Retention Inventory

The Mate Retention Inventory (MRI) assesses the performance of behaviors that function to maintain and retain a romantic partner s exclusive involvement with the individual. We first review existing evidence for the psychometric utility of the MRI. We then examine in the current study agreement between selfreports and partner-reports of mate retention behaviors using data from married couples. Both members of 107 couples completed the MRI for their own and their spouse s use of mate retention behaviors. Men s and women s self-reports of their mate retention behaviors are substantially congruent with their spouse s reports of their mate retention behaviors, indicating that men and women can provide reliable accounts of spousal mate retention using the MRI. 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.