Rituals in Dating Relationships: The Development and Validation of a Measure

Abstract

Rituals have been widely studied in interpersonal communication research, but no instrument measures perceived ritual use in dating relationships. The purpose of this study, through surveying 590 individuals in dating relationships, was to create and validate the Rituals in Dating Relationships (RDR) measure. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling resulted in a 5-factor measure, reinforcing previous research (Bruess & Pearson, 1997): couple-time rituals, everyday talk, idiosyncratic rituals, daily routines and tasks, and intimacy expressions. Ritual use was positively related to both perceived relational quality and perceived relational intimacy, demonstrating the concurrent and predictive validity of the RDR measure. The usefulness of the instrument in extending scholarship about rituals in dating relationships is explored.

Keywords:

• Dating Relationships
• Relational Intimacy
• Relational Quality
• Rituals

Notes

Note. Items were mixed and were not grouped together by similar subject on the survey.

^a Denotes the item has been recoded (reverse-scored).

Note. RDR = Rituals in Dating Relationships measure; RMSEA = root mean square error of approximation; GFI = goodness-of-fit index; AGFI = adjusted goodness-of-fit index; CFI = comparative fit index.

^a Three error variance terms were allowed to correlate (ID3 and ID4; DR3 and DR5; INT2 and INT3).

^b Two error variance terms were allowed to correlate (ID3 and ID4; DR3 and DR5).

*p < .01.

Note. All factor loadings were significant at the p < .01 level.

^a Denotes the item has been recoded (reverse-scored).

*p < .05. **p < .01.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Judy C. Pearson

Judy C. Pearson (Ph.D., Indiana University, 1975) is a professor in the Department of Communication and the Associate Dean in the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at North Dakota State University.

Jeffrey T. Child

Jeffrey T. Child (Ph.D., North Dakota State University, 2007) is an assistant professor and undergraduate coordinator in the School of Communication Studies at Kent State University.

Anna F. Carmon

Anna F. Carmon (Ph.D., North Dakota State University, 2010) is an assistant professor in the Division of Liberal Arts at Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus.