The use of structural equation modeling in assessing the quality of marital observations (original) (raw)

Using Paired Data to Test Models of Relational Maintenance and Marital Quality

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 1999

Recent research has developed a good understanding of how maintenance behaviors are related to husbands' and wives' individual perceptions of marriage. Unfortunately, one of the limitations is that data have been collected from an individual spouse and may be misleading when applied to the relationship as a whole. The purpose of the present study was to test a procedure by which data collected from spouses can be used to examine joint couple-level concepts. Specifically, the study employs structural equation modeling with 129 married couples to examine the relationship between husbands' and wives' use of maintenance behaviors and joint couple-level constructs of marital quality. The final models for couple satisfaction, couple commitment, and couple love had good fits, indicating that individual use of maintenance behaviors has an influence upon couples' marital quality. Also, wives' overall use of maintenance behaviors had a stronger relationship with marital quality than did husbands' use of maintenance behaviors.

Study on the Threats of Reverse-Worded Items to the Psychometric Properties of the Marital Quality Scale

The Open Psychology Journal

Background: The reverse-worded or negative items are often intended to reduce bias when responding to a measurement scale, but it impacts the psychometric properties of measuring instruments. The study aimed to describe the effect of the positive and negative items on the psychometric properties of the marital quality scale and to overcome the problems with a multidimensional analysis. Methods: Three hundred thirty-seven married people (166 men and 171 women, age = 35 years) were involved in the research. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and coefficient reliability were conducted to answer the purpose of the study. Results: The results showed that the loading factor of the reverse-worded items was higher when it was analyzed separately than in the mixed model. The one-dimensional model provided lower a fit measurement model and reliability estimates than the two and four-dimensional models. Confirmatory factor analysis and composite reliability by separating positive dan negat...

The Measurement of Family Relationships: Individual, Dyadic, and Family Dimensions of Relational Construct and Their Implication for Family Members

In this paper we illustrate a new method for measuring family relationship through the structural equation modeling (SEM), considering both family members’ points of view and dyadic relationships. Starting from the model developed by Cole and colleagues (Cole & Jordan, 1989; Cole & Mcpherson, 1993), we proposed and tested a new measurement model in which the family dimension is operation- alized as a second-order latent variable. We applied the measurement model to companionship — a fundamental feature of close relationships which had previously been investigated exclusively as an in- dividual construct. The different dimensions of relational construct predict the adjustment of the family members differently. The first aim of the study is to test three different measurement models to identify the individual, dyadic, and family dimensions of companionship, and the second whether companion- ship as a multidimensional construct is related to depression in family members. The participan...

Longitudinal study of marital interaction and dysfunction: Review and analysis

Clinical Psychology Review, 1993

Psychological research on marr;aSe is undergoing an important shift from the use of crosssectional, descriptive studies of marital contict to longitudinal studies that have the potential to explain how marital contict and marital qualip are interrelated over time. This article reviews longitudinal research on marital con$'ict and concludes that, while there is some evrderue to suggest that behavior exhibited during contict (e.g. , wives'resignation and sadness) foreshadows marital deterioration, many important issues must be addressed before the longitudinal association between contict and marital satisfaction is well understood.

The Development of the Marital Satisfaction Scale (MSS)

In this study, the process of developing the Marital Satisfaction Scale (MSS) aiming to support studies in the field of marital satisfaction and to obtain information about couples in a short time through psychological counseling is discussed. The scale including 101 yes-no items aiming to reveal couples’ opinions about their marriages was designed in parallel with similar scales developed abroad for similar purposes. The scale is comprised of two parts. The first part contains 92 items related to the sub-dimensions of the marital satisfaction. On the other hand, the second part of the scale dealing with the effect of “understanding of parenting” on the marital satisfaction includes 9 items to be responded by individuals with children. In the process of developing the scale, 341 people were given the whole scale and 270 people who have children were given the second part of the scale to carry out the statistical calculations. As a result of the item total, item remaining and discriminant analysis of the scale, the results were found to be significant at the level of p .001. Through Cronbach α, Spearman Brown and Guttman Split-Half techniques, reliability values between r=.93 and .97 were found. The reliability values of the part of the scale administered to people with children about “understanding of parenting” was found to be between r=.81 and .86. The factor analysis revealed that the first sub-dimension of the scale assesses the “marital harmony” which is comprised of the “relationship happiness”, “conflict” and “closeness” sub-scales. Other subdimensions are “anger”, “communication with the spouse’s family “, “economic understanding”, and “understanding of parenting”.

The marital intake interview: A multimethod criterion validity assessment

Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1981

A multimethod criterion validity assessment of a marital intake interview was conducted. Twelve couples seeking marital therapy (dissatisfied) and 16 couples seeking marital enhancement (satisfied) were interviewed with spouses together or separated. Interview items focused on marital satisfaction and perception, demographic variables, and comfort in making assertive responses. Couples were then administered several marital satisfaction and assertion questionnaires. Each husband and wife also participated in a structured analogue communication assessment in which they discussed a problem area in their marriage. The verbal interchanges during the communication exercises were coded by trained observers. The results of the study suggested (a) a high degree of discriminant validity for the marital interview, (b) higher interspouse correlations for interview items during joint interviews, (c) higher indices of criterion-related validity for separate interviews, and (d) a significant relationship between the reactivity of joint interviews and the social sensitivity of the interview item. The implications of these findings for marital intake interviews are discussed.

An Appraisal of The Marital Satisfaction Inventory: A Psychometric Process

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science

The Marital Satisfaction Inventory is a standardised instrument which has been used in estimating the satisfaction levels of married people in their marriages mostly in Ghana. This study sought to further validate Marital Satisfaction Inventory (MSI). The inventory has 35 items in all and categorised into two sections sub-categorised into seven scales. The multi-stage sampling procedure was used in selecting 210 married people in the Berekum municipality to participate in the study. The method used in validating the instrument included translational validity (content validity and face validity), construct validity (factor analysis) and reliability by internal consistency approach. The results using the revealed that principal component analysis with varimax rotation put the items under six factors instead of seven. The reliability coefficient was found to be 0.94 alpha level. In all, the instrument was found to have good psychometric properties.