— How this was built
Methodology.
Undrift Us was informed by a broad reading of openly available academic literature on close relationships, conflict, attachment, and behavioural change. The concepts here are drawn from that shared body of open scholarship — not from any single program, brand, or proprietary method.
Undrift Us is an independent product. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, certified by, or derived from any specific therapy brand, institute, or training program. Nothing in this product should be read as a claim of partnership, accreditation, or use of a proprietary framework.
How the assessment was built.
The Drift Assessment is not a personality quiz. It is a short-form, research-informed screen designed to surface a handful of behavioural signals that the open literature consistently associates with relationship trajectory — and to translate that signal into a stage of drift you can act on this week.
01 — Source material
Consulted, not copied.
We consulted open academic materials — peer-reviewed journal articles, textbook chapters, and publicly available research summaries in couples and close-relationships psychology. These informed our thinking about which behaviours matter and why. We do not reproduce, license, or represent any specific researcher's instrument, program, or trademarked framework.
02 — Four dimensions
Chosen on purpose.
Every scale question maps to one of four broad behavioural constructs that recur across the open literature:
- Warmth & friendship — the ordinary, day-to-day fondness that predicts stability over time.
- Corrosive conflict patterns — recurring negative-affect behaviours such as criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and shutdown.
- Small bids for connection — the micro-moments of turning-toward or turning-away that quietly compound.
- Repair — the ability to de-escalate after a rupture and re-approach one another.
03 — Item design
Why the questions sound the way they do.
- Behavioural, not evaluative. Items ask about observable moments rather than global judgments, which reduces halo effects.
- Past-week framing. A short recall window produces a snapshot of current state rather than mood-congruent memory.
- Balanced polarity. Positively- and negatively-keyed items within each dimension suppress the tendency to simply agree.
- 5-point Likert. Enough resolution to detect movement on re-test without forcing false precision.
04 — Pattern question
A categorical layer on top of the scales.
The "who withdrew first" item is not scored — it is used as a routing variable. Combined with the dimensional scores, it helps distinguish patterns the scales alone cannot separate: one-sided withdrawal, mutual quiet, active friction without repair, and general avoidance.
05 — Scoring & stages
From items to a stage of drift.
The scaled items sum to a total that is mapped to one of five stages, weighted so that later stages require broad-based depression across dimensions rather than a single bad week on one scale.
06 — From stage to program
Why each stage gets different scripts.
The toolkit, missions, and script curation are stage-conditional. Earlier stages emphasise noticing bids and small fondness rituals. Middle stages introduce repair and softened openings. Later stages foreground de-escalation and, where relevant, encouragement to work with a licensed clinician alongside the program.
07 — Honest limits
What this instrument is not.
The Drift Assessment is a short screen, not a validated psychometric instrument. It has not undergone independent factor analysis, test–retest reliability studies, or clinical normalisation. It is one partner's self-report at one moment in time. It cannot detect abuse, infidelity, untreated mental-health conditions, or substance-use dynamics — all of which require clinical assessment. It is designed to help you name what is happening and choose a next move, not to diagnose a relationship.
08 — Independence
Affiliation disclosure.
Undrift Us is independently developed. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or certified by any therapy institute, training program, or research group. References to "open literature" mean publicly available academic scholarship consulted during design.
Undrift Us is a psychoeducational tool, not a diagnostic instrument or a substitute for licensed couples therapy. If you are in distress or your relationship involves abuse, please contact a licensed clinician or local crisis service.