Development of Dyadic Relationship Scale

Problem Statement: The rise of premarital studies brings along questions about the evaluation of effectiveness of educational programs developed for preparing young individuals for marriage and family life. Purpose of Study: The purpose of this study is to develop Dyadic Relationship Scale for university students. This study introduces Dyadic Relationship Scale (DRS) developed on the basis of Turkish culture. Methods: Validity and reliability studies for the DRS were conducted with the participation of 1115 students of Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey. The data obtained were analyzed by the SPSS software. Construct validity of the DRS was examined with the exploratory factor analysis. The DRS prepared is five point Likert scale having five subscales and 78 items. The five subscales are Communication, Romanticism-Sexuality, Conflict Solving, Social Support, and Acceptance of Differences. Findings and Results: The Communication subscale displays a 6-factor structure and explains 64.2% of the total variance, while the Romanticism- Sexuality subscale displays a 5-factor structure and explains 61.5% of the total variance, the Conflict Solving subscale displays a 5-factor structure and explains 60.1% of the total variance, the Social Support subscale displays a 2-factor structure and explains 63.3% of the total variance and the Acceptance of Differences subscale displays a 5-factor structure and explains 60.7% of the total variance. On the other hand, criterion-related validity was analyzed between the DRS and the Pre-Marital Relationship Assessment Scale. Based on the data obtained from 181 university students, a positive and significant correlation at the level of .824 was determined between two scales. Reliability of the DRS was analyzed in two ways. Firstly, Cronbach alpha coefficient was calculated for all subscales of the DRS. Alpha coefficients were calculated to be .77 for the Communication subscale, .88 for the Romanticism-Sexuality subscale, .85 for the Conflict Solving subscale, .91 for the Social Support subscale and .79 for the Acceptance of Differences subscale. Secondly, reliability coefficients of the DRS, which were analyzed by use of the split-half method, were found to be .61 for the Communication subscale, .64 for the Romanticism-Sexuality subscale, .73 for the Conflict Solving subscale, .69 for the Social Support subscale and .64 for the Acceptance of Differences subscale. Conclusions and Recommendation: Evidences reached for validity and reliability show that the DRS can be validly and reliably used for measuring dyadic relationship levels among university students. Premarital educators can use the DRS in evaluating the effectiveness of their practices.