The marital disaffection scale: An inventory for assessing emotional estrangement in marriage

This paper describes the development of a 21-item self-report scale that measures the level of disaffection toward one's spouse. A questionnaire containing the Marital Disaffection Scale (MDS) and other measures of disaffection and marital happiness was administered to 76 spouses. Results indicated good criterion-related validity, discriminant validity, and inter-item reliability The findings support the clinical use of the Marital Disaffection Scale for assessing spouses' feelings toward their partner and planning appropriate interventions in conjoint therapy.