The measurement of marital quality

TLDR

Marital quality is the most studied topic in marriage and family research, and clinicians increasingly focus on it amid rising divorce rates and growing acceptance of counseling services. The article aims to discuss the need for marital quality measures, review their history, and identify key conceptual and methodological issues, with a focus on the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. It reviews the evolution of marital quality measurement, highlights conceptual and methodological challenges, and examines the Dyadic Adjustment Scale in detail. The authors note cautions for clinicians and outline future measurement needs.

Abstract

Abstract The quality of marital relationships is the most studied topic pertaining to marriage and family life. Moreover, clinicians have become increasingly interested in this variable as divorce rates have climbed and as services for counseling and therapy have become more readily available and more widely accepted. These research and clinical needs necessitate the availability of measures of variables which assess marital quality (e.g., marital adjustment, satisfaction, and happiness). This article discusses the need for such measures, reviews the history of measurement in this area, identifies some conceptual and methodological issues of relevance, and then focuses most specifically on the Dyadic Adjustment Scale developed by Spanier. Some cautions for clinicians are noted, and a discussion of future measurement needs is presented.