Instruments
The instruments behind
the research.
Love Pulse Labs develops and maintains the measurement instruments used across our research program. Each is documented here as a citable reference: what it measures, how it is structured, and how a result should be read.
The Drift Check
The Drift Check is a free 24-item self-report screener for early relationship drift. It identifies which of the Four Conditions of Disconnection is most present in a relationship right now, and it is built for couples who believe everything is fine. Drift is quiet by nature. The instrument exists to make it visible early, while the way back is short.
Items
24
Format
Self-report, one partner
Time to complete
About 5 minutes
Cost
Free
Scoring
Immediate, automated
Administered at
lvrsfrvr.com/drift-check
Administered on LVRS FRVR, the consumer platform whose consented, anonymized signals feed our research program.
What it measures
The Drift Check screens for the Four Conditions of Disconnection, the framework Love Pulse Labs uses to describe how connection erodes in ongoing relationships. Most measurement in this field is built for couples already in crisis. This instrument is built for the long stretch before that, where drift begins.
The Drift
Two partners slowly stop noticing each other while daily life continues as normal. Nothing is wrong, and that is exactly the problem.
The Quiet
Conversation narrows to logistics. The couple still talks every day and says less every month.
Later
Connection is perpetually deferred. The relationship is always next on the list and never at the top of it.
Signal Loss
Reaches for attention go unseen or unanswered, so both partners gradually stop reaching.
How a result should be read
An instrument is only as trustworthy as the limits it states. These are the reading rules we hold the Drift Check to.
A screener, not a diagnosis
The Drift Check surfaces which condition of disconnection is most present in a relationship right now. It does not diagnose a relationship, predict its future, or replace professional care. It is a signal, not a verdict.
Patterns, not failures
Results are expressed as patterns a couple can act on, never as grades or failure states. The instrument exists to help couples catch drift early, while catching it is still easy.
One partner's view
A single administration reflects one partner's experience of the relationship. The companion product invites the second partner to take the same instrument, and the pair of results is where the picture becomes dyadic.
Validation status stated plainly
The Drift Check is a structured self-report screener in active field use. It has not yet been through formal psychometric validation. When validation work is completed, it will be published with methodology and limitations, and this page will link to it.
Its role in the research program
The Drift Check sits at the front of the Love Pulse Labs pipeline. It gives individuals a structured first read on their relationship, and in aggregate, with both-partner Tier 2 consent and our K-anonymity floor of fifty couples, drift-screening patterns contribute to population-level work like the Pulse Index. No individual result is ever published or licensed.
The operational controls governing that boundary are documented on our Methodology page, and the terms the instrument relies on are defined in the Lexicon.
Citing this instrument: Love Pulse Labs. The Drift Check, a 24-item self-report screener for early relationship drift. https://lovepulselabs.com/instruments