Problems with using dominance indices to evaluate family interaction patterns.

Used four well-accepted behavioral measures of dominance to document changes in dominant/submissive behaviors of marital couples as a result of videotape feedback of behavior in decision-making tasks. Dominance scores for 30 normal couples on each of the four indices were correlated, and results indicated that the measures bore little relationship to each other. Further, a review of videotaped interactions revealed little to warrant even intuitive support for three of the measures. Such data support the contention that these popular indices may be inappropriate to assess dominance across couples.