Close Relationship Personality Test

Abstract

The Close Relationship Personality Test (CRPT) is a comprehensive, anonymous 85-item self-report questionnaire designed by psychologists specializing in the empirical study of close relationships. The primary objective of the CRPT is to assess an individual’s characteristic relational style, focusing on stable, enduring patterns of feeling, thought, and action within the context of romantic relationships, rather than temporary emotional states or specific situational conflicts. The instrument is utilized for ongoing scientific research, providing high-quality data on the interplay between adult attachment dynamics and broader personality traits. Simultaneously, it offers immediate, personalized feedback to participants upon completion, fulfilling a critical dual purpose.

The CRPT integrates established measures of adult attachment—specifically the dimensions of anxiety and avoidance—with novel items designed to capture relationship-specific expressions of fundamental personality traits. This holistic approach allows researchers to gain a nuanced understanding of how dispositional factors manifest in intimate partnerships.

Keywords

Close relationships, Romantic relationships, Relational style, Adult attachment, Personality assessment, Psychological testing, Self-report measure, ECR-R, Intimacy, Emotional regulation, Attachment Anxiety, Attachment Avoidance.

Authors

Researchers affiliated with the Personality and Close Relationships Laboratory, including Chris Fraley and colleagues, who specialize in the domains of adult attachment, psychometrics, and personality dynamics in intimate contexts.

Purpose

The core purpose of the Close Relationship Personality Test is twofold. First, it aims to provide participants with a detailed, nuanced profile of their characteristic relational style across romantic partnerships generally. By focusing on generalized tendencies rather than current relationship status, the instrument effectively captures stable individual differences in areas such as commitment, vulnerability, and interdependence.

Second, and crucially for the academic community, the instrument serves as a robust data collection tool for scientific research. The collected data is used to explore the complex interplay between relationship-specific personality traits and core dimensions derived from Attachment Theory. Participants are informed that their anonymous responses directly contribute to advancing psychological understanding in the domain of adult relational dynamics.

Construct

The CRPT measures a complex set of psychological constructs related to intimate interaction. Primarily, it assesses the two fundamental dimensions of adult attachment, which form the basis of many contemporary relationship scales:

• Attachment Anxiety: Characterized by fear of abandonment, preoccupation with partner availability, excessive reassurance seeking, and hyperactivation of the attachment system.
• Attachment Avoidance: Characterized by discomfort with emotional closeness and intimacy, reliance on radical self-sufficiency, and deactivation of the attachment system.

Beyond these core attachment dimensions (which are often measured by instruments like the Experiences in Close Relationships—Revised, or ECR-R), the CRPT uniquely incorporates items reflecting relationship-specific expressions of broader personality traits. This expanded scope allows researchers to examine how general temperament and disposition—including factors such as sociability, emotional stability, assertiveness, conflict initiation, and openness to intimacy—are integrated into the individual’s overall close relationship schema. The inclusion of a partner-perception section further broadens the construct, capturing how these traits are perceived by others.

Validity

Specific, published empirical data regarding the psychometric properties of this specific version (CRPT v3) were not disclosed in the public administration instructions. However, given that the questionnaire is explicitly utilized for rigorous scientific research conducted by established academic laboratories, it is inferred that the instrument adheres to high standards of psychometrics.

Developers are presumed to have established robust construct, convergent, and discriminant validity. This process would involve validating the proposed dimensions against existing, reliable measures of adult attachment (like the ECR) and established measures of general personality to ensure the CRPT accurately and distinctly measures the specific relational constructs it intends to assess.

Reliability

Detailed statistical reliability metrics, such as internal consistency coefficients (e.g., Cronbach’s alpha) or test-retest reliability scores, are not publicly available in the administration instructions. Nevertheless, the scale’s considerable length (85 items) and its intended use in formal, published research necessitate high reliability standards.

It is expected that the developers have established high internal consistency within the measured relational style sub-dimensions to ensure the items within a factor reliably measure the same underlying construct. Furthermore, temporal stability (test-retest reliability) would be essential to confirm that the scale captures stable, enduring individual differences, ensuring the integrity and replicability of the resulting research data.

Factor Analysis

The design of the CRPT, which deliberately combines traditional attachment items with a wide array of relationship-specific personality descriptors (e.g., measures of talkativeness, moodiness, conflict behavior, and assertiveness), strongly implies a complex, multi-faceted factorial structure. A rigorous factor analysis was undoubtedly a foundational step in the scale’s development.

This process, likely involving both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), would be necessary to effectively isolate and confirm the distinct psychological factors being measured. The analysis serves to verify that the items load reliably onto their intended dimensions, thereby providing crucial empirical evidence for the construct validity of the scale as a measure of close relationship personality.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report questionnaire designed to assess individual relational style and partner perception in romantic contexts.

Format: The instrument consists of 85 items divided into two distinct parts. Part 1 includes 60 items assessing the individual’s own feelings and behaviors regarding relationships. Part 2 includes 25 items assessing the perceived feelings and behaviors of the individual’s romantic partner. Responses are collected using a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (“Strongly disagree”) to 7 (“Strongly agree”).

Language Available: English (based on the primary source website).

Population Group: Individuals currently in or reflecting upon their experiences in romantic relationships.

Age Group: Adult population (implied by the focus on complex romantic relationship dynamics and stable personality assessment).

Population Details: Anonymous participants recruited online, contributing data to academic research on close relationship personality.

Test Methodology: Online, anonymous self-administration. Participants are explicitly instructed to reflect on how they generally experience relationships across partners and time, rather than focusing exclusively on a single, current relationship or transient state.

Keywords

Attachment anxiety, Attachment avoidance, Personality traits, Relationship dynamics, Self-report measure, Psychometric instrument, Relational assessment, Online testing, Intimate partner relations, Commitment, Interdependence.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A (Not provided in source material)

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A (Not provided in source material)

Correspondence Address: Correspondence is generally directed toward the administering research laboratory, typically the Personality and Close Relationships Lab at the University of Illinois.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The test is described as free and anonymous for all participants completing the questionnaire online. It is used explicitly for ongoing, non-commercial academic and scientific research purposes. The original consent form outlining participant rights and test benefits can be accessed here: Read our consent form. The exact revision year of this specific version (denoted as v3 in the URL) is not publicly provided, though the underlying Experiences in Close Relationships (ECR) framework is well-established in the psychological literature.

Reference’s

The scale is theoretically and empirically grounded in the established work on adult attachment, particularly stemming from the widely used Experiences in Close Relationships (ECR) measure. This specific, expanded version is hosted and administered by the Personality and Close Relationships Laboratory:

Primary Source URL: http://www.personalitylab.org/tests/ecrr_self_v3.htm

Items of the Close Relationship Personality Test

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

Part 1: Self-Perception (60 Items)

1. I’m afraid that I will lose my partner’s love.
2. I am talkative with my partner.
3. I prefer not to show a partner how I feel deep down.
4. I tend to find fault with my partner.
5. I often worry that my partner will not want to stay with me.
6. I feel comfortable sharing my private thoughts and feelings with my partner.
7. I often feel depressed and blue about my relationships.
8. I often worry that my partner doesn’t really love me.
9. I am reserved when with my partner.
10. I find it difficult to allow myself to depend on romantic partners.
11. I worry that romantic partners won’t care about me as much as I care about them.
12. I am helpful and unselfish with my partner.
13. I am very comfortable being close to romantic partners.
14. I am relaxed and handle stress about my relationships well.
15. I often wish that my partner’s feelings for me were as strong as my feelings for him or her.
16. I don’t feel comfortable opening up to romantic partners.
17. When I am with my partner‚ I am full of energy.
18. I worry a lot about my relationships.
19. I start quarrels with my partner.
20. I prefer not to be too close to romantic partners.
21. When my partner is out of sight‚ I worry that he or she might become interested in someone else.
22. I can be tense about my relationships.
23. I get uncomfortable when a romantic partner wants to be very close.
24. When I am with my partner‚ I generate a lot of enthusiasm.
25. When I show my feelings for romantic partners‚ I’m afraid they will not feel the same about me.
26. I find it relatively easy to get close to my partner.
27. I have a forgiving nature when it comes to my partner.
28. I rarely worry about my partner leaving me.
29. I tend to be quiet around my partner.
30. It’s not difficult for me to get close to my partner.
31. My romantic partner makes me doubt myself.
32. I am generally trusting of my partner.
33. I usually discuss my problems and concerns with my partner.
34. I am emotionally stable and not easily upset about my relationships.
35. I do not often worry about being abandoned.
36. It helps to turn to my romantic partner in times of need.
37. I have an assertive personality with my partner.
38. I find that my partner(s) don’t want to get as close as I would like.
39. I can be cold and aloof with my partner.
40. I tell my partner just about everything.
41. Sometimes romantic partners change their feelings about me for no apparent reason.
42. I can be moody about my relationships.
43. I talk things over with my partner.
44. I am sometimes shy and inhibited around my partner.
45. My desire to be very close sometimes scares people away.
46. I am nervous when partners get too close to me.
47. I am considerate and kind to my partner.
48. I’m afraid that once a romantic partner gets to know me‚ he or she won’t like who I really am.
49. In my romantic relationships‚ I remain calm in tense situations.
50. I feel comfortable depending on romantic partners.
51. It makes me mad that I don’t get the affection and support I need from my partner.
52. I am outgoing and sociable with my partner.
53. I find it easy to depend on romantic partners.
54. I am sometimes rude to my partner.
55. I worry that I won’t measure up to other people.
56. It’s easy for me to be affectionate with my partner.
57. I get nervous about my relationships easily.
58. My partner only seems to notice me when I’m angry.
59. I like to cooperate with my partner.
60. My partner really understands me and my needs.

Part 2: Partner-Perception (25 Items)

61. My partner is talkative with me.
62. My partner tends to find fault with me.
63. My partner is often depressed and blue about our relationship.
64. My partner is reserved when with me.
65. My partner is helpful and unselfish with me.
66. My partner is relaxed and handles stress about our relationship well.
67. When my partner is with me‚ they are full of energy.
68. My partner starts quarrels with me.
69. My partner can be tense about our relationship.
70. When my partner is with me‚ they generate a lot of enthusiasm.
71. My partner has a forgiving nature when it comes to me.
72. My partner worries a lot about our relationship.
73. My partner tends to be quiet around me.
74. My partner is generally trusting of me.
75. My partner is emotionally stable and not easily upset about our relationship.
76. My partner has an assertive personality with me.
77. My partner can be cold and aloof with me.
78. My partner can be moody about our relationship.
79. My partner is sometimes shy and inhibited around me.
80. My partner is considerate and kind to me.
81. In our relationship‚ my partner remains calm in tense situations.
82. My partner is outgoing and sociable around me.
83. My partner is sometimes rude to me.
84. My partner gets nervous about our relationship easily.
85. My partner likes to cooperate with me.