Assessing Relationship Satisfaction with Four Items? Psychometric Evaluation of the Ultra-short German Version of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS-4)

Abstract

The quality of an individual's relationship plays a central role in their personal well-being as well as their mental and physical health. Despite its great importance, there are only a few ultra-short self-report measures for the assessment of relationship quality. An exception is the four-item version of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS-4), which is gaining increasing popularity internationally. In this study, the German version of the DAS-4 was evaluated for the first time with regard to its psychometric properties in a general population sample of individuals in a romantic relationship (N=1296). In addition to satisfactory item characteristics, the unidimensional measurement model showed sufficient goodness of fit and the internal consistency was satisfactory (ω=0.80). Measurement invariance was shown for men and women based on the latent construct of the DAS-4. In line with the hypothesis, associations of the DAS-4 with gender, general life satisfaction, psychopathology and attachment styles were found, which suggests construct validity. Despite the lack of application experiences and pending psychometric analyses of the DAS-4 in relevant target groups, such as individuals in couples counselling or therapy, the four-item version can be recommended for assessing relationship satisfaction.