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Assessing romantic competence in adolescence: the Romantic Competence Interview
Joanne Davila1, Sara J Steinberg, Melissa Ramsay Miller
1Department of Psychology, State University of New York, University at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794-2500, USA. joanne.davila@stonybrook.edu
Journal of Adolescence
|February 5, 2008
Summary
The new Romantic Competence Interview (RCI) shows promising reliability and validity for assessing adolescent romantic skills. This tool helps understand and support early adolescent romantic competence development.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
- Adolescent Psychology
Background:
- Assessing romantic competence in early adolescence is crucial for healthy development.
- Existing measures may not adequately capture the nuances of adolescent romantic functioning.
- The Romantic Competence Interview (RCI) was developed to address this gap.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present preliminary psychometric data on the reliability and validity of the newly developed Romantic Competence Interview (RCI).
- To examine the RCI's ability to assess competence in adolescents irrespective of their relationship status.
Main Methods:
- The study involved 83 early adolescent girls (mean age=13.45 years).
- Participants completed the RCI and other measures of social, peer, and romantic functioning.
- Concurrent and 1-year predictive associations were analyzed.
Main Results:
- The RCI demonstrated reliable coding.
- The interview showed good construct validity.
- Findings support the RCI as a viable measure of romantic competence.
Conclusions:
- The RCI is a reliable and valid tool for assessing romantic competence in early adolescents.
- The findings have implications for conceptualizing and measuring romantic competence.
- Early attention to adolescent romantic competence is important.
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