How to interpret your RCI score
When you finish the inventory, this site shows one closeness score as a percentage (0–100%). That percentage is the 0–10 mark from the scoring step multiplied by ten. It is a snapshot of how you experienced one relationship over the past week — not a label for the other person, and not a prediction about whether you should stay together.
The three classic ideas behind the number
Researchers often describe closeness with three overlapping ideas. This site’s guides call them frequency, diversity, and strength. The online questionnaire asks about them through four answer blocks that are then rolled into a single mark.
Frequency — time together
You estimate how many hours in the past week you spent alone and awake with the other person. More shared one-on-one time usually raises this part. Frequency alone is never the whole story: roommates may log many hours without feeling close, and long-distance partners may log few hours while still feeling strongly bonded.
Diversity — shared activities
You check off activities you did together in the past week from a fixed list (meals, errands, recreation, and similar). A wider variety of shared experiences contributes to this part. A relationship built around only one context can still matter a great deal; the inventory simply treats broader overlap as a sign of interconnectedness.
Strength — influence and future plans
Strength is asked in two blocks on this site:
- Influence on your life — how much you agree that this person shapes moods, values, social plans, daily routines, and related domains. Some items are worded in reverse so that agreeing with everything does not inflate the score.
- Future plans — how much this person affects plans for vacations, career, housing, children, finances, and similar long-range goals.
High strength with low frequency can describe someone you rarely see but think about constantly. High frequency with low strength can describe a pleasant coworker you enjoy on site but rarely consider outside it.
How this site turns answers into one percentage
Each of the four parts (time, activities, influence, and future plans) is converted to a comparable scale. Those four values are averaged and mapped to a 0–10 closeness mark, which the results page displays as a percentage. You do not receive separate sub-scores on the results page; every dimension feeds the single number you see.
In the online version, any total below 5 is multiplied by 1.25, so low scores come out a little higher. Totals of 5 and above are not changed.
The bands shown on your results page
After you submit, the site places your percentage into one of three plain-language bands. These are reading aids written for this website, not published clinical cut-offs.
- Under 40% — framed as a lighter or newer connection for now. Scores here often mean the other person is not yet central to your weekly routine, shared activities are limited, or you report relatively little influence on moods and future plans. That can fit a new acquaintance, a colleague you like, a long-distance stretch, or a relationship you are keeping at arm’s length.
- 40% to under 70% — framed as a solid, developing closeness. Scores here usually mean meaningful time together, several kinds of shared activities, and some real influence on daily life or future thinking — without everything revolving around this person. Many steady friendships and partnerships land in this band. A busy week can lower time or activity checkboxes while feelings stay strong.
- 70% and above — framed as a strongly intertwined connection. Scores here typically mean substantial one-on-one time, a wide mix of shared activities, and strong agreement that this person shapes moods, choices, and long-term plans. A high score still does not measure trust, safety, or compatibility — only how embedded they feel in your life right now.
What higher and lower scores tend to mean
Higher scores usually mean you spend substantial time with this person, share many kinds of activities, feel them shaping day-to-day choices and moods, and picture them in your future plans.
Lower scores can mean a newer or more casual connection, a long-distance or busy season, a friendship that is warm but not entwined with daily life, or simply that you answered about someone you see often in groups but rarely one-on-one.
Context matters. A low score is not automatically “bad,” and a high score is not a guarantee of health or compatibility. The four parts can also pull in different directions — for example high shared time with lower future-plan influence during an uncertain phase. Talking about which dimension feels off is often more useful than debating a single percentage.
Research background (and what this is not)
The inventory follows ideas from Berscheid, Snyder, and Omoto (1989) in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Their sample was 241 students at one university. Activity checklists still mention classes, dorms, and campus social life. This website is an informal adaptation for self-reflection and entertainment. It is not therapy, counseling, or a professional assessment.
For more on those limits, see Limits of the inventory. For how each step of the questionnaire is structured, see How it works. To go deeper on frequency, diversity, and strength as separate ideas, read What closeness means.