The Inventory of Pre-Marital Conflict (IPMC) is a systematic procedure for the diagnosis and assessment of pre-marital conflict and related issues. The self-report component of the IPMC involves a series of 18 hypothetical conflict situations. The individual responds to each of these by evaluating who is primarily responsible for the problem, and by choosing the most desirable solution. This instrument provides the degree of actual conflict, perceived conflict, empathy level, accuracy of predicting the partner's responses, and types of authority for both individuals and couples. In addition, group norms are provided for comparative purposes. Items found to be particularly relevant for the couple are selected for the tape recorded interaction task in which the couple re-evaluates each problem situation and decides upon a joint solution. From this task, indicators of communication styles, problem-solving, decision-making, and conflict resolution skills and win scores can be obtained. Information obtained from the IPMC can be used to focus couple discussion, to aid in the formulation of treatment objectives in pre-marital counseling, and to evaluate the effectiveness of the counseling or educational programs. (Author)