THE MARITAL DISAFFECTION SCALE - AN INVENTORY FOR ASSESSING EMOTIONALESTRANGEMENT IN MARRIAGE

This paper describes the development of a 21-item self-report scale th at measures the level of disaffection toward one's spouse. A questionn aire containing the Marital Disaffection Scale (MDS) and other measure s of disaffection and marital happiness was administered to 76 spouses . Results indicated good criterion-related validity, discriminant vali dity, and inter-item reliability The findings support the clinical use of the Marital Disaffection Scale for assessing spouses' feelings tow ard their partner and planning appropriate interventions in conjoint t herapy.