Development and Validation of Possibility of Marital Adjustment Questionnaire for Couples on the Brink of Divorce

The present study aimed to develop and validate a questionnaire to assess the possibility of marital adjustment so as to help experts make sound decisions about couples on the brink of divorce. The study was conducted using an exploratory method (instrument development) in two phases. In the first phase, based on qualitative method of grounded theory and using interviews with 33 couples on the brink of divorce and 15 marriage and divorce counselors, marital adjustment factors were explored and a questionnaire was designed in two versions for men and women. In the second phase, based on the quantitative method, the validity and reliability of the questionnaire were evaluated by purposefully selecting 262 women and 202 men visiting counseling centers in Isfahan. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed using SPSS and AMOS and Cronbach’s alpha of the questionnaire and its subscales were calculated. The results showed that two main categories including positive resources and negative resources of marital relationship (deterrents to divorce) are involved in marital adjustment. The results indicated that love, trust, sexual relationship, acceptance, justice, and fairness were the subcategories of positive resources of marital relationship for men and women. Besides, deterrent attitudes, family of origin, children (for men and women) and socio-economic conditions (for women) were determined as the subcategories of the negative resources of the marital relationship. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis also provided a significant explanation of the variance of the variable under study by the factors both for women (0.48) and for men (0.49)