Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the concurrent validity of the Korean Marital Satisfaction Inventor/(K-MSI). As the criterion group for the first study, thirty-five female clients who sought counseling for their marital conflicts were recruited through the cooperation of the Korean Legal and Family Counseling Centers. For the second study, 27 mothers of children with behavioral problems were recruited among those who visited two counseling center for children because of their child's problems. The K-MSI scores of the criterion group subjects were compared to those of the standardization sample whose age and: education were controlled. The marital counseling group demonstrated significantly lower marital satisfaction than the normal group in all the subscales such as Inconsistency, Conventionalization, Global Distress, Affective Communication, Problem- Solving Communication, Aggression, Time Together, Disagreement About Finances, Sexual Dissatisfaction, Conflict Over Child Rearing except the subscales of Role Orientation, Family History of Distress and Dissatisfaction with Children. The mothers of children with behavioral problems also showed significantly lower marital satisfaction in the subscales of Conflict over Child Rearing, Dissatisfaction with Children, Global Distress, Affective Communication, and Problem Solving. Results indicated that the K-MSI demonstrated the concurrent validity in discriminating the subjects with marital conflicts and specific problems with children from the normal subjects, and that it is a very useful tool in screening the clients with marital and family problems in clinical settings.