Development of The Divorce Initiation Inventory

Abstract

The status of divorce initiator versus non-initiator has demonstrated significant influence on individuals’ wellbeing throughout the divorce process. While these outcomes are relevant to both researchers and clinicians who focus on the influence of post-divorce outcomes, assessment of initiator status is generally conducted with a single question that varies across studies. The use of a single item to assess a complex, multifaceted construct such as divorce initiation poses a potential threat to the internal validity of the study. Further, single item assessments of divorce initiation are frequently inconsistent across studies, limiting the ability to synthesize the body of research as a whole. The Divorce Initiation Inventory (DII) is a five-item questionnaire that was constructed using terminology reflected in the extant literature. The purpose of this study is to describe the outcome of analyses for the development of the DII and to summarize the findings for initial assessment of reliability, criterion and construct validity. Clinical implications and directions for on-going research are discussed.