Measurement of object relations : a review

Although object relations theories are increasingly prominent in the psychoanalytic and psychotherapeutic literature, efforts to study these phenomena empirically remain in their infancy. Researchers interested in studying intrapsychic processes have nonetheless attempted to assess levels of object relatedness, and several reports have documented both construct and predictive validity. This literature is reviewed, with special emphasis on the difficulties involved in the development of assessment instruments. The author summarizes reliability and validity data on the most widely used instruments in an effort to provide general guidelines for researchers interested in developing strategies for measuring object relations.