ETHNICITY AND ACCULTURATION - ASSESSING MEXICAN-AMERICAN COUPLES RELATIONSHIPS USING THE MARITAL SATISFACTION INVENTORY - REVISED

This study compared the marriages of 75 Mexican American and 66 non-Hi spanic White American couples sampled from the same geographic region of the southwestern U.S., using the Marital Satisfaction Inventory-Rev ised (MSI-R). Analyses of internal consistency and scales' intercorrel ations provided partial support for the structural equivalence of MSI- R scales across both samples. Multivariate analyses indicated modestly higher levels of relationship distress among the Mexican American cou ples. although group differences dissolved after controlling for demog raphic variables other than ethnicity. Ratings of higher acculturation among Mexican American couples were modestly related to higher levels of marital distress for wives but unrelated to relationship satisfact ion for husbands. Implications of findings for the study of Mexican Am erican marriages and interventions with clinically distressed couples are discussed.