Spanier's dyadic adjustment scale: Some confirmatory analyses

Abstract

One hundred and eight married couples and 68 cohabiting individuals completed the 32-item Spanier Dyadic Adjustment Scale as part of an omnibus survey concerning the interactions between couples in ongoing relationships. The items of the scale were factor-analysed separately for the three samples—married females, married males and cohabitors. Although in each case there emerged a strong single factor, four factors were rotated to assess the similarity to Spanier's solution. Generally his Dyadic Consensus, Dyadic Satisfaction and Dyadic Cohesion factors were identifiable but the items from the Affectional Expression scale were dispersed. COSAN analyses provided overall support for Spanier's four-factor solution. Further confirmatory data are reported in the form of high co-efficient alpha values for the overall scale and three of the four subscales (except Affectional Expression). High correlations between husbands' and wives' scores support the scales' validities. Use of the scales with Australian samples is supported.