This paper offers new information on the reliability and validity of the Relationship Assessment Scale (RAS; Hendrick, 1988), a seven-item generic measure of relationship satisfaction. The RAS shows moderate to high correlations with measures of marital satisfaction, good test-retest reliability and consistent measurement properties across samples of ethnically diverse and age-diverse couples, as well as partners seeking marital and family therapy. The RAS is an appropriate, useful and brief measure for partnered love relationships in a wide variety of research settings.
Bradbury, T.N. (1995) `Assessing the Four Fundamental Domains of Marriage', Family Relations44: 459-468.
2.
Contreras, R. , Hendrick, S.S. & Hendrick, C. (1996) `Perspectives on Marital Love and Satisfaction in Mexican American and Anglo Couples', Journal of Counseling and Development74: 408-415.
3.
Cuellar, I. , Harris, L.C. & Jasso, R. (1980) `An Acculturation Scale for Mexican American Normal and Clinical Populations', Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences2: 199-217.
4.
Dilworth-Anderson, P. & Burton, L.M. (1996) `Rethinking Family Development: Critical Conceptual Issues in the Study of Diverse Groups', Journal of Social and Personal Relationships13: 325-334.
Guldner, G.T. & Swensen, C.H. (1995) `Time Spent Together and Relationship Quality: Long-distance Relationships as a Test Case', Journal of Social and Personal Relationships12: 313-320.
7.
Hall, A.G. , Hendrick, S.S. & Hendrick, C. (1991) `Personal Construct Systems and Love Styles', International Journal of Personal Construct Psychology4: 137-155.
8.
Hendrick, S.S. (1981) `Self-disclosure and Marital Satisfaction', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology40: 1150-1159.
9.
Hendrick, S.S. (1988) `A Generic Measure of Relationship Satisfaction', Journal of Marriage and the Family50: 93-98.
10.
Hendrick, S.S. & Hendrick, C. (1995) `Gender Differences and Similarities in Sex and Love', Personal Relationships2: 55-65.
11.
Hunsley, J. , Pinsent, C., Lefebvre, M., James-Tanner, S. & Vito, D. (1995) `Construct Validity of the Short Forms of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale', Family Relations44: 231-237.
12.
Inman-Amos, J. , Hendrick, S.S. & Hendrick, C. (1994) `Love Attitudes: Similarities between Parents and between Parents and Children', Family Relations43: 456-461.
13.
Lamke, L.K. , Sollie, D.L., Durbin, R.G. & Fitzpatrick, J.A. (1994) `Masculinity, Femininity and Relationship Satisfaction: The Mediating Role of Interpersonal Competence', Journal of Social and Personal Relationships11: 535-554.
14.
Manson, M.P. & Lerner, A. (1962) The Marriage Adjustment Inventory. Los Angeles, CA: Western Psychological Services.
15.
Meeks, B.S. (1996) `The Effects of Self-disclosure, Perspective-taking, Love Attitudes, Conflict Tactics, and Relational Competence on Relationship Satisfaction, unpublished doctoral dissertation, Texas Tech University, Lubbock.
16.
Sacher, J.A. & Fine, M.A. (1996) `Predicting Relationship Status and Satisfaction after Six Months among Dating Couples', Journal of Marriage and the Family58: 21-32.
17.
Scheier, M.F. , Carver, C.S. & Bridges, M.W. (1994) `Distinguishing Optimism from Neuroticism (and Trait Anxiety, Self-mastery, and Self-esteem): A Reevaluation of the Life Orientation Test', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology67: 1063-1078.
18.
Schumm, W.R. , Paff-Bergen, L.A., Hatch, R.C., Obiorah, F.C., Copeland, J.M., Meens, L.D. & Bugaighis, M.A. (1986) `Concurrent and Discriminant Validity of the Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale', Journal of Marriage and the Family48: 381-387.
19.
Snyder, D.K. (1979) `Multidimensional Assessment of Marital Satisfaction', Journal of Marriage and the Family41: 813-823.
20.
Spanier, G.B. (1976) `Measuring Dyadic Adjustment: New Scales for Assessing the Quality of Marriage and Similar Dyads', Journal of Marriage and the Family38: 15-28.
