DIMENSIONALITY OF BRIEF FAMILY-INTERACTION AND SATISFACTION SCALES AMONG COUPLES FROM 8 WESTERN AND MIDWESTERN STATES

The Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale, the Kansas Parental Satisfactio n Scale, a version for couples of the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES III), and three subscales from the Marital C ommunication Inventory were subjected to common factor analysis using data from 1222 rural, heterosexual couples, husbands and wives from ei ght western and midwestern states in the United States. The analysis s upported the expected dimensionality of the Marital Communication Inve ntory and the two satisfaction scales but suggested that the adaptabil ity scale may have more than one dimension. All scales showed adequate to high internal consistency reliability; however, the two FACES III scales were correlated .59 for both husbands and wives, casting doubt on the presumed orthogonality of those scales, at least for these samp les. The results further support the potential validity of brief measu res of relationship quality and satisfaction.