Follow-up of the Kelly Longitudinal Study, 1979-1981

The purpose of this follow-up study (for the original study see Kelly, Log# 00431) was to examine the relationship between personality characteristics and marriage compatibility over a period of forty-five years. Participants for the original study were identified by Kelly in 1935-38, through engagement announcements in a local newspaper. Three hundred couples volunteered to submit to an extensive battery of physiological and psychological tests, as part of a projected seven-year longitudinal investigation of marital compatibility and other aspects of married life. Couples who did marry (249 couples) were contacted by mail each year on their anniversaries. This practice continued until 1941, when data collection was suspended due to World War II. In 1954, participants were recontacted and asked to complete a new battery of tests and return them by mail. Connolly conducted the 1979-1981 follow-up with 394 participants from the original sample of 600. He continued to examine the relationship between personality and marital compatibility. In addition, he studied the cross-situational and longitudinal consistency of personality, intelligence, and self-opinion. Connolly continued to follow both members of divorced couples as well, and instructed them to answer questions with regard to their current or most recent spouses. The Henry A. Murray Research Archive holds all of the paper data for this follow-up study as original record paper data, as well as in microfiche format. The data have not been digitized for use.