Development of marital adjustment and family functioning scale: a reliability and validity study

Abstract

Aim: We aimed to develop a novel, comprehensive scale to assess family functioning and marital adjustment. Methods: We attempted to develop the Marital Adjustment and Family Functioning Scale with randomly selected 361 married participants without dementia and mental retardation. While calculating the internal consistency coefficient and deploying the test-retest method to ensure the reliability of the scale, we resorted to the factor analysis and criterion-related validity methods to seek its validity. The Marital Adjustment Test (MAT) and the Family Assessment Device (FAD) were utilized to ensure the criterion validity of the scale. Results: The findings revealed the internal consistency coefficient of the scale to be 0.974. Following the test-retest study with 20 participants, we calculated the correlations between two measurements with the MAFFS test to be 0.951. Finally, we calculated the correlation coefficients between the MAFFS and the FAD and the MAT to be 0.704 and 0.775, respectively. Conclusion: The first subscale is called the �family functioning and adjustment� since the items were oriented to assess general functions and adjustment in the family. The second subscale includes the items oriented to confidence-loyalty-violence; therefore, it is called �confidence-loyalty-violence.� Finally, the third subscale is referred to as �marital dysphoria� since it attempts to assess dysphoric issues within the family. Overall, the whole scale is deemed appropriate to be called the �Berksun-S�ylemez-Kayac�k (BSK) Marital Assessment Scale.�