Kelly longitudinal study
Published: 1935
Language: eng
Format: computer file
Subjects: Married people; Longitudinal studies; Marriage
Description: This study was designed as a seven-year longitudinal investigation of marital compatibility and other aspects of married life, such as fertility. Follow-up data collection was conducted almost 20 years after the initial contact (1954-1955), providing data spanning the period from young adulthood to middle age relevant to issues regarding the consistency of adult personality.

Between 1935 and 1938, 300 engaged couples volunteered to respond to an extensive battery of physiological and psychological tests and measures. Couples agreed to notify the investigator of their marriage, or of the broken engagement. In 1954-1955, 512 of the original 600 spouses participated in the second wave of data collection. Participants completed mailed questionnaires containing both precoded and open-ended responses.

The data included scores on standardized psychological measures (Otis Self-Administering Test of Mental Ability, the Allport-Vernon Scale of Values, the Bernreuter Personality Inventory, the Bell Adjustment Inventory, Strong's Vocational Interest Inventory, Remmer's Generalized Attitude Scales, a 36-trait graphic Personality Rating Scale and, in the 1954-1955 follow-up, a version of Osgood's Semantic Differential). In addition, the questionnaires used at the time of the original data collection (1935-1938) included items concerning education; occupation; income; birth order; childhood family life; physical and mental health; child-rearing practices; respondent's sex education and experience; and solicited participants' opinions on the importance of various factors for a successful marriage. Information was also collected concerning the respondent's general physical health and specific health problems.

The Murray Center has the precoded computer-accessible data from all questionnaires and standardized psychological measures administered at the time of the initial data collection (1935-1938) and at the time of the long-term follow-up (1954-1955). The Murray Center also has paper and microfiche copies of the responses to the open-ended questions included in the questionnaires administered at Time 1 and Time 2. A follow-up conducted in 1979-81 is also archived at the Murray Center (see Connolly, A522).
Notes: Sample characteristics: sample size: 101-500; time: 1900-1939, 50s; race: not compiled; age: mixed; number of generations: 1; gender: female, male; ses: mixed.

Data collection methods: design: longitudinal, field study; length of data collection: 11-20 years; measures: psychological tests, questionnaire.

Follow-up possible: no; follow-up available: yes.