A generic measure of relationship satisfaction

SS Hendrick�- Journal of Marriage and the Family, 1988 - JSTOR
SS Hendrick
Journal of Marriage and the Family, 1988JSTOR
The variety of interpersonal relationships in contemporary society necessitates the
development of brief, reliable measures of satisfaction that are applicable to many types of
close relationships. This article describes the development of such a measure. In Study I, the
7-item Relationship Assessment Scale (RAS) was administered to 125 subjects who
reported themselves to be" in love." Analyses revealed a unifactorial scale structure,
substantial factor loadings, and moderate intercorrelations among the items. The scale�…
The variety of interpersonal relationships in contemporary society necessitates the development of brief, reliable measures of satisfaction that are applicable to many types of close relationships. This article describes the development of such a measure. In Study I, the 7-item Relationship Assessment Scale (RAS) was administered to 125 subjects who reported themselves to be "in love." Analyses revealed a unifactorial scale structure, substantial factor loadings, and moderate intercorrelations among the items. The scale correlated significantly with measures of love, sexual attitudes, self-disclosure, commitment, and investment in a relationship. In Study II, the scale was administered to 57 couples in ongoing relationships. Analyses supported a single factor, alpha reliability of .86, and correlations with relevant relationship measures. The scale correlated .80 with a longer criterion measure, the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier, 1976), and both scales were effective (with a subsample) in discriminating couples who stayed together from couples who broke up. The RAS is a brief, psychometrically sound, generic measure of relationship satisfaction.
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